Ephesians 1:15-23
Light. I love light. I love that darkness cannot remain in its presence. I love the thought of my heart being flooded with it (as the NLT says in Ephesians.) The flooding means that it washes into every crack and crevice. It washes into my brokenness. It runs like a river through my heart, washing away the darkness. It doesn't "fix" the cracks. They don't go away, but they're no longer dark, hidden, scary.
And here's what it reveals: a confident hope, holiness, a rich and glorious inheritance. My holiness?! What? Really? Me... holy? YES! He has made me holy. He has made you holy if you are in Christ. We are a holy people. We have an inheritance in Him. But this isn't talking about our inheritance... it talks about His inheritance... US! WE are the inheritance. We are the treasure. We are His inheritance--His rich and glorious inheritance! What?! Me? Us? But we're such a mess! We bicker and fight. We compare and compete. We "friend" and "unfriend" one another at the drop of a hat.
Oh Lord, flood our hearts with Your light so that we can understand... so that we will have the confident hope that we are Your holy people--set apart by You--that we are Your inheritance--Your rich and glorious inheritance--Your treasure.
Maybe once we have that understanding, we'll quit bickering and fighting, comparing and competing, friending and unfriending. Flood our hearts, Lord.
And here's the key--we somehow think that this holiness thing is up to us--that we need to make ourselves holy. Goodness, if we could do that Jesus wouldn't have had to die! There is only one way we can become holy--by the power that raised Christ from the dead. Not only that, but it also seated Him the the place of honor at God's right hand. Now He reigns with authority! Sometimes it may not feel like it because He seems to allow things that I wouldn't allow if I were in charge. But I am not in charge, and we can all be thankful for that! I'd be more like Bruce Almighty and I'd make a mess of things.
So, instead of trying to be good, instead of trying to control everything and everyone, I'll seek that Light to flood my heart--to give me an understanding of the power that raised Christ from the dead--and maybe, just maybe, I'll start living more like the treasure--the inheritance that God's Word says I am!
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I would love to hear from you! Let me know what you think and how I can pray for you. Most of us are carrying some pretty heavy baggage and the good news is, you don't have to carry it alone! You can lay it at the feet of Jesus, and sometimes we need help just letting go of our baggage and not picking it up again. We're in this together!