Daily Devotions
Ephesians 1:3-7, 11-14 – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace … In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory.
Another way of translating the word “guarantee” in this passage is to say that the Holy Spirit is the “down payment” of our inheritance from God. When I heard that, it just boggled my mind. If the downpayment is the Holy Spirit, what must the rest of the inheritance be like?
Just look at what God has given us: His own Self, God the Holy Spirit, to live inside us now and forever—closer than our own breath, more intimate with us than our own bones and blood. We were made for this—to have God Himself resident in us, at home with us and giving us His own peace, joy, and life.
The whole closeness thing bothered me for a while—after all, God is holy, and He’s going to get that close to me? I’m a sinner, even now that I believe in Jesus, and He is the holy God! How does that even work? How uncomfortable must He be?
But after a while, it occurred to me that God is a grown-up, and He knew what He was getting into when He chose to come into my life. It wasn’t on me to protect Him! He will do the protecting—and any other adjustments that need to happen in our relationship.
And He does. He brings us to faith in Jesus our Savior, who died and rose again so we could be reborn as God’s children. And then every day the Spirit keeps working in us, making us to grow up in Jesus’ image, in His likeness—so the family resemblance keeps getting stronger. And of course there’s all the other stuff that He does for us every day—helping us to pray, praying for us when we can’t find the words, giving us wisdom and guidance (see Romans 8:26-27; Isaiah 11:2).
WE PRAY: Lord, thank You for giving us Yourself first of all! Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.
Reflection Questions:
1. What is the point of a downpayment?
2. Why can we be absolutely sure God is going to bring us into eternal life and joy in His kingdom?
3. Tell about a time when the Holy Spirit helped you.