Daily Devotions
Ephesians
"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."
Text: Ephesians 1:18
ONLY THROUGH ENLIGHTENED EYES
Paul’s prayer for spiritual enlightenment was right on the mark. In his letter to the Corinthian Church he highlighted an important truth.
“But the natural man does not receive the things
of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him;
nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
1 CORINTHIANS 2:14
The natural human spirit can never hope to comprehend the deep spiritual things of God. Only when the Spirit of God enlightens us would there be significant spiritual discernment.
KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOPE OF GOD’S CALLING
It is not without significance that Paul used the word “hope” in his writings. This word is now applied to the calling of God. How may we best understand this idea? In his letter to the Roman Church, he had this to say about our hope in Christ.
“Through whom also we have access by faith into this grace
in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
ROMANS 5:2
Two aspects are considered in this text:-
1. Our present standing
Through justification in Christ, we have access to God. We may enter into God’s Holy Presence through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
2. The hope of our future standing
We have every reason to rejoice in this privileged standing made available to us through faith in Christ Jesus. But there is another wonderful truth that we may rejoice in. We have a wonderful hope that one day we will be in the glorious presence of God Himself!
The calling of God involves both aspects. It is called “hope” simply because it is yet future and will not be realized untill we see Jesus our Lord face to face.
“THAT YOU MAY KNOW”
The above is nothing more than over-simplification of the hope of God’s calling. There are many aspects that we must desire to discover about our calling in Christ. Let us consider some other things that are found in our calling. Three may be highlighted in particular.