June 10th-Brought Near
Journey through Ephesians
Ephesians 2.11-13 “brought near, through the blood of Christ”
Focus Verse-Ephesians 2.13
“But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.”
Insight-Few things are more painful than the pain of separation from someone you love deeply and who loves you deeply. This separation is the lostness that we feel when we are living outside of an authentic relationship with our Creator. In this separation, Paul describes us as being without a home, without an identity, without hope and without the foundation and rescue we so desperately need from God.
God never left us, we leave Him, yet He pursues us in order to reconcile us, to restore our relationship with Him. We have run off and sold ourselves as slaves to our own desires, to sin and to the world’s systems, so God pursues us and has paid the ransom to bring us home. Jesus paid it with His life, His blood, so we can be home with our Father. God is not distant. He is right here with you and invites you and I to enjoy the beauty of relationship with Him.
Response and Action-Today, I will accept God’s invitation to live in His presence. He is near and I will choose to live near Him today, embracing Him and everything that He has for me. I will choose to follow His leadership in every area today.
Pursuing Father, thank you for doing what I could not. Thank you for never giving up on bringing me home and for paying the price to make it happen. Help me to live in the joy and freedom of being Your child today. Amen.
Sometimes I forget that God is near to me, especially when I can’t feel His presence. I am so easily distracted by pretty much everything that could ever be a distraction, its easy to get caught up in things that don’t have eternal significance. I think some call it “control”. Right now I need to just stop and rest in his presence I think. The summer is beginning with all of the craziness and in my heart I just want time to stop for a few moments and be near to God. The truth though is that He is here even when it doesn’t feel like it, or life is so crazy I don’t even remember to look for Him.
So today in all of the preparations for camp, new job, weddings, etc. I choose to remain in Him. To abide in His love for me and as someone wise once said to let the overflow splash to those around me.
Jesus, thanks for pursuing me to the ends of the earth. Thank you for finding me and rescuing me in the wilderness. Thanks for never giving up and never letting go. Thank you that everything around me is dripping in your grace, please help me to see and respond to that in humility. Please keep showing me how to surrender and follow your leadership in all that I do. Amen.