Blessings in Christ: The Book of Ephesians details the Holy Spirit's role in acquiring blessings for His children to the glory of God the Father. Learn about more of them here!
As we were digging in last week to the Spiritual Blessings in Christ, I failed to finish a thought about eagerly waiting for Christ. This is a side product of faith, that is, an assurance of things not seen. The spiritual blessings that we have in Christ are something that we cannot see, but as Christians we know that they exist. As we learned in our last study, we certainly know that they exist, and that they are already ours because the One who has promised is faithful and true, and it is based upon His word- which is powerful, and it is ultimately all for His glory. However, we are still in the flesh, we still walk daily in this world and we can easily fall in love with it. Hence the warning from the Word of God:
1 John 2:15 -17 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
What the world has to offer is enslavement to its principles, and addictions to its vices. The marketing plan of the world system that has most people in its grip is for things that lose value over time and are to be replaced with the newest and best to keep up with the Joneses. These things of the world offer temporary pleasures of sin for a season, and in its end is death. When we pursue the world-and this does include the approval of men-it demonstrates that the love of the Father God is not in us. The problem is that one day these things that are so important to us will all burn. It should make the permanence and assurance of what we have in Christ Jesus more precious to us. What we have in Christ is of eternal value, and it is to His glory. It will never pass away. He is the pearl of great price, something that we should be willing to sell or give away everything we have in order to possess. What God deserves is our very best- even though all we have to offer is filthy rags, but we lay down all of what we have at the foot of the cross because Jesus is worth it. Is Jesus precious to you? Are you willing to lay down all that you are and all that you have for the cause of Christ? Have you laid it all down at the foot of the cross because you understand the precious promises that are yours to possess because you have believed before they have come to pass? This is really what it means to be first to hope- we trust in Christ before all the benefits are revealed, knowing only that He can save us from our sin and the penalty we so richly deserve because of it. As we grow in Him, we begin to understand all of the spiritual blessings in Christ. We can know that because of His trustworthiness and His promise that we already have the precious promises, though we can only see through the glass darkly. He has already borne your sins, and when He comes again, it will not be as a sacrifice for sinners, but as a judge. For those who have not obeyed the Gospel by putting their trust in Christ alone, they will receive judgment and not mercy. For those of us who have trusted in Christ, he Has already paid the penalty,taking the judgment for our sins. He is coming back to save us in the sense that we will be judged based on what He has done and He will be taking us to glory with Him!
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