You Have Been Called By God

February 15, 2018

You Have Been Called By God

Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.

Ephesians 4:3-4

Read: Ephesians 4:1-10

How good is your memory? Paul begins and ends Chapter 4 by urging us to remember who we are. When Paul reminds us that we have been called by God, he is not just referring to those called for the particular roles within the church. Paul is referring to how each of us have been called to believe in Jesus as the risen Lord, and to give Jesus our complete allegiance for the rest of our lives.

Because our Lord won a victory over sin and death, all people who are in Christ, who give Christ their faithful allegiance, will also win this victory over sin and death. This is our Christian hope. This is the calling Paul urges us to live up to. In every moment, of every day, our loyalty to Jesus, our allegiance to his Kingdom, takes priority over everything else. We are empowered to live up to our calling by remembering God, through Christ, has forgiven our sins, and by remembering Jesus has now identified us as his own.

Paul also emphasizes the importance of always striving to maintain unity within the church. Regardless of where we are, or what role we may have in the church, we are all bound together because “There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all” (Ephesians 4:5-6).

My Takeaway: The next time you are in church, a small group meeting or Bible Study, or just in the company of other believers, take a few moments to contemplate what you have in common with the others: one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all.

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2018 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.