Welcome Back Home
Ephesians 1:1-14
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the
will of God. To God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace
and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise for
Spiritual Blessings in Christ. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual
blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to
be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to
sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the
praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in
accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all
wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according
to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when
the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on
earth under Christ. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined
according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the
purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in
Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in
Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When
you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who
is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are
God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
We were created to be with God, to be spiritual, to do His
Will, to receive His blessings and to live in His Glorious Kingdom doing good. (Isaiah 43:7, Ephesians 2:10) We lost all of this inheritance because
of Adam's sin (Romans 5:12). Jesus
restores our inheritance (1Peter 5:10). With the
Grace of God, we believe and trust in the death and resurrection of Jesus. God
takes us back and adopts us to be His children and guarantees our inheritance
as He predestined us to be (Ephesians
1:5, Romans 8:15). God reinstates His Holy Spirit within us to be our GPS and
to guide us through our journey in life and keep us on track doing His will,
enjoying His blessings and living as children of the Almighty God. (John 14:16)
Imagine owning a company where you sell your product to a
number of key customers. They are very important to your financial stability
and success. There is always a risk of losing an important customer. You focus
your complete attention on keeping your customers happy and in providing the
best product and service possible. There is very little time left over in your life to do
anything else.
Then, one day a multimillionaire, who says He is your Father,
offers to buy ALL your products and He offers to provide your existing
customers with what they require. He not only agrees to take care of all of
your needs for the rest of your life, He also adopts you as His child so that
you can inherit His Kingdom. All of your debts are paid in full and all of the
bad decisions you ever made are corrected. You no longer have to employ people
to perform the back office responsibilities of managing your customers because
now you have only one single life-long customer. You have more time to spend
with your family, your church, your friends and more private time for yourself.
You are fully blessed.
Two tiny sparrows were having a conversation. One sparrow said, “Why are
humans so full of anger and hatred? Why are they so anxious and why do they
worry so much about so many things? The other sparrow said “ They probably
don’t have a Father in heaven who loves them and takes care of all their needs
like we do.”
It is so good to be back home.