Seated With Christ

This morning, my quiet time with the Lord was spent in Ephesians. I love Ephesians because there is such a wealth of knowledge to be had in just one small book! Then Sydney woke up so I fed her and played with her. It has been very hot and humid here lately, but temperatures are dropping a bit so I decided to walk around the yard with her this morning while it was still nice outside. We had a very nice time just walking and looking around. Then we decided to stop and sit on the prayer bench. Maggie (our dog) and Lacy (our cat) decided to join us at the prayer bench and they each sat at my feet because I am their master. Sydney, however, sat on the bench with me because she is my daughter. She has privileges Maggie and Lacy will never have because of her position in life.

As we sat there together this morning, I could not help but reflect on what I had read. In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul wrote one of my favorite prayers recorded in the Bible. Chapter 1 verses 16-23 reads, "[I] do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all."

We know that Christ was made a little lower than the angels when He came to earth but when He was resurrected, our Father exalted Him and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places. That is so exciting to me but it gets even better because Paul expressed his desire for the Ephesians and now us too, to know the hope of His calling and to understand that the power God used to raise Jesus from the dead is the same power working in us today! Eph. 2:4-6 says, "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus". We have been made to sit together with Jesus. I don't know if you noticed this, but it is past tense. We have this position in life. Just as my daughter sat with me on the bench this morning because of her position in life, we sit with Christ! When we sit, we are resting, are we not? Christ did the work for us! We do not have to work for our salvation! There is a rest even in our busyness because we can enjoy what we do. Verse 10 of chapter 2 says, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." We are saved by grace for good works. That really makes a difference in how we approach each day. It makes us want to serve Him because of what He has done for us not because we have to. Glory to God!