Wednesday, April 21

Ephesians 1:11-14
In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything to conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having 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.

Again, three words should grab your attention today!
“Heard.”
“Believed.”
“Sealed.”
Paul here has outlined three spiritual events in the life of every believer.
First, he says, “you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.”
Can you recall when you first really heard the gospel?
Was it in Sunday School?
Was it at a Billy Graham crusade?
Was it listening to a preacher on the radio?
But somewhere, somehow, you heard!
And when you heard you believed. That’s the second event in spiritual conversion.
What does it mean to believe?
In the sense Paul means it here to believe is more than to understand intellectually that something is true. I can believe honey is sweet without ever making the effort to actually taste it for myself. But once I actually commit to putting the honey to my lips I believe that honey is sweet. To believe means to understand something is true then to trust that truth enough to commit both your heart and your life to it.
For many of us the moment we heard is closely connected to the moment we believed. But for others many years may have passed between hearing and believing. What is your story? Once you heard – did you move to belief easily or did you have to overcome many barriers to complete faith?
After hearing and believing – Paul says you are “sealed.”
For me, this is the most interesting and powerful of the three words we are thinking about today! “Sealed” is the word Paul uses to describe the activity of the Holy Spirit in the heart of a believer. It’s a word that would have been used in a business contract in the ancient world – to seal a contract was to come to a binding agreement. Paul is saying that God’s way of “sealing the deal” with us is to send his Holy Spirit to dwell in our hearts by faith.
Think about that for a moment!
Paul is saying that at the moment you believed – the Holy Spirit of God took up residence in your heart as a guarantee of both your new relationship with him and your eternal inheritance in heaven.
You might have felt this as a powerful and even very emotional moment. You may not even be aware that it happened – but it did. By faith your heart was sealed by God himself – and the Holy Spirit lives in you!

Brian Coffey