This post is Day 3 in a series of studies about “The Spiritual Blessings” in Ephesians, I strongly suggest you begin with the introduction to this study, please click here to read it.

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The Spiritual Blessings – Day 3

Like Father, like son is an expression often used when a boy looks and acts like his father. Jesus showed the love of the Father to the world, so should we. Jesus obeyed everything His Father told Him to do, so should we. Jesus was obedient to the end, so must we be.

Ephesians 1:4

He chose us … to be holy and perfect in his presence.

The Thought

Yesterday we read that God chose us from before the beginning of the world. Here we see what we should look like; holy and perfect as Jesus was.

Like Father, like son is an expression often used when a boy looks and acts like his father. Jesus showed the love of the Father to the world, so should we. Jesus obeyed everything His Father told Him to do, so should we. Jesus was obedient to the end, so must we be.

Please note that Father God is not asking us to be crucified, or sacrifice ourselves in any way. Jesus did that for us. But Father God is asking us to keep ourselves pure, and to be obedient to Him. Jesus is our example in that He did everything His Father asked Him to. We read His words about the accomplishment of His God-given task in John’s gospel chapter 17 where we read Jesus’ final prayer. It’s worth reading in its entirety, but here I’ll just quote verses 4 & 5: “I have given You glory on the earth by completing the work You gave Me to do. And now Father glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world began.“

Action

Pray today for encouragement to follow Jesus’ example in obedience. He will help each of us to be “holy and perfect in His sight” if we ask Him. The Holy Spirit is more than ready to help us on the road towards holiness.

Remember that holiness does not mean being shut away from the world in a monastery unless you get a specific calling to do that. It means living for Jesus and thinking as He did. We need to be praying as Jesus did, and performing miracles as Jesus did. He left us to convert the world.

Can you pray, “Lord do it, and please use me to increase Your Kingdom on the earth”?