GREETINGS

Vol 2 No 34 THEO'S DEVOS 082808

Ephesians 1:1-2 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
Of all Paul's letters, this is the shortest greetings, but it contains three important things of note. First of all look at how Paul describes himself. “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.” An apostle was someone that God sent with a message for us. Paul was never able to get over the fact that he had been chosen as an apostle of Jesus Christ. Jesus met him on the road to Damascus and chose him to be an apostle. He did not get any approval from others, let alone the other apostles. The result of this is that Paul seems to need to clarify how this happened and he defends his apostleship on several occasions.

It stunned Paul that God would chose him. “ by the will of God” we read. Paul had no other thing that he would boast about except that God would call him an apostle. Think about that for a minute. Paul had spent most of his life persecuting the church. He had hated the people of God and had done all he could to eradicate them. This is the man that Jesus meets on the road to Damascus and tells him that he has been chosen to be an apostle. There is no other appointment that more describes the sovereignty of God than this. His choosing the Jews and His people is on the same level but even they were not trying to destroy the things of God when he chose them. There were other things that Paul could have stated here to impress us. His pedigree is long but Paul only cares that he was chosen by God. That is enough for him and he believes it should be enough for us.

Paul goes on to say that he is writing to 'saints.' Now I don't know about you but thinking of myself as a saint always made me nervous until I found out that a saint is not what I had thought. Our idea of what a saint is may be misconstrued. I always thought of them as bigger than life. People that were made into statues and so holy that they stood apart from the rest of us. The Bible, however, describes them much differently. It turns out that they are just like us. They have all the same problems, and worries that we do. It is true that they are not like ordinary people. In the original language used here, Greek, the word comes from the same word as holy. Saints are holy people. The Greek word holy means different or distinct. They live differently than most people. Holiness is what determines who a saint is. They are like everyone else with the exception of being set apart by God. If you have put your faith in Jesus as your savior, you have been set apart by God. You have been made a saint. You are called to live differently than others. Oh, you may not always pull that off but you are called by God to live a life for him.

The last thing that Paul says here is “ Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Grace and peace are offered to them, and us, by Paul. I will discuss these two important words in later devos but, for now, understand that they are offered to you. They are yours every day. They will impact your life in ways you cannot imagine. Look for them in your life. Ask God to help you trust that they are there even when life gets bumpy as it is sure to do.

My prayer for you today is that the grace of God will be noted in your life and that His peace will be your experience today. May God bless you in all that you do for Him.

Theo