“According as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love” (Ephesians 1:4).

Yesterday we spoke of the great privilege enjoyed by every believer. Before the foundation of the world, we were chosen in Christ. Our great God decided ahead of time that we would be adopted into His family. This act of adoption bestows upon every believer the full benefits enjoyed by adult children. A two-year-old toddler is just as much a child as is the twenty-two year old child. Which of the two has greater privileges? Of course the answer is the older child. When we asked the Lord Jesus to be our Savior, we were not only born into his family, we were adopted! We enjoy the privileges of adult children. With the bestowal of privilege comes the expectation of responsibility. The apostle Paul explains this responsibility by using the terms of being holy and without blame before Him in love. Simply stated, this means that as God’s own adopted child, we need to live in a way that is totally set apart unto Himself. Though we will never be perfect on this side of Heaven, we need to be blameless in our lifestyle. This means that we need to live in such a way that there would be no glaring, consistent sinful patterns in our lives. We do not live by a long legalistic list. However because of His love for us and because of our love for Him, we want to live lives that will be different. We want to live lives that will be totally out of step with the sinful lifestyle of the world. The Lord greatly desires to help us live holy and without blame (not perfection!)  What a challenge! What an opportunity!

For today: I want the world to know that the Lord Jesus has made a big difference in my life. I don’t want to talk like the world, think like the world, nor act like the world. How about you?