I open up to Ephesians in the Bible adorned with flowers, the pages worn loose, Corinthians falling out before it. And there, in that first chapter nearly every word is underlined and circled, bracketed and underlined again, I see it.
Word after word, he paints a picture, this is who Jesus--the One who lived and died and breathes in heaven--made me to be.
Blessed.
Holy and blameless.
Predestined.
Adopted.
Bestowed with glorious grace.
Redeemed.
Forgiven.
Lavished with grace.
Included in Christ.
Sealed with the Holy Spirit.
Guaranteed an inheritance.
I turn the page into chapter 2 and I have been made alive. I was dead and now alive–the glorious miracle of rebirth! Gratifying and craving the things I should have not, by nature an object of wrath, but–
God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved (Ephesians 2:1-5)…
And now, because this grace that has washed over me, I have been raised with Christ and seated in the heavenly realms all to show
the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:7).
Then there’s Peter.
O, how I can identify with good, old Cephas…the rock Jesus would build His Church on, the one who told Jesus to stop the death talk, said he’d never abandon him and later denied. But after that early morning breakfast on the beach and the filling of the Holy Spirit, Peter spoke with a power and authority not his own.
He calls us, the ones who have come to know the living Stone,
rejected by men, but chosen by God…and precious to him (1 Peter 2:4).
Being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood,
a chosen people,
a royal priesthood,
a holy nation,
a people belonging to God (1 Peter 2:5, 9).
That, my friends, is an identity to behold.
There is nothing insignificant about who Jesus has called and enables us to be. We have been called that we
may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light (1 Peter 2:9).
Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
1 Peter 2:10
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Those 1 Peter verses are some of my very favorites! Your whole series has been very awesome to read.
Oh, thank you Shelley.
This is beautiful! Love that Bible!
What a great way to start the day, being reminded that my identity is in Christ! Such precious truths! Thanks, Jessica!
Glorious truth!!!