Friday, March 28th (Lent #21)

Ephesians 1:3-14

Zip lock storage bags are a staple in most kitchens. We use them all the time for leftovers, packing lunches, storing extra stuff that fits nowhere else. You know the drill. One of things I like about the newer bags is that you can tell when they are closed right when the seal changes color. It's simple really, a red side and a blue side come together to show as purple when it's sealed.

Brilliant! (It's not that we aren't smart enough to check if a bag is sealed.)

Visual assurance. (that my leftovers won't spoil.)

Evidence recognizable at a glance...sealed!

Paul uses the same idea about believers.

You who have believed in Christ have been sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. (vs.13)

To be sealed by the Holy Spirit is Paul's way of describing salvation, or another way of putting it would be preserving something you are saving. He understood that there is a process in saving. We are not saved rather we are being saved. As the different parts of our lives are given to Jesus Christ, they are sealed; we are sealed, preserved. It starts with our belief in Jesus, then continues with trusting in Jesus more and more. We are in a process of being preserved for now and for the future.

Is your seal purple?

In the process of being saved we should be seeing signs that we are changing to become more and more holy and blameless (vs. 4) It's all the work of Holy Spirit through the grace of God, but it requires us to keep giving ourselves, the different parts that are not fully holy and blameless yet. We should be seeing these signs regularly, being more gracious, kind, loving, compassionate, patient, forgiving, etc. These are our purple signs that we are sealed. (It's not why we use the color purple for Lent, or is it?)

We need more purple, because in the saving process we are not finished yet.

What signs of the Holy Spirit do you see in yourself?

What things in you still need to be controlled by the Spirit?

Today, offer these things to Christ in your prayers and watch another part of you become "sealed!"

Peace ><>
Pastor Chris