Bible Verse of the Day Monday December 12th, 2022

Ephesians 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus.

Paul started as Saul, a tenacious persecutor of Christians and an enemy of God in Christ Jesus. After he brought many Christians in Jerusalem to the Jewish leaders to be jailed and persecuted, he set out for Damascus to get back Christians from there for the kangaroo court of the Pharisees. However, on the way to Damascus, Saul met the risen Christ Jesus, who asked why he was persecuting Him (Acts 9:4). That ended the short career of Saul, the persecutor, and began the life of Paul, the Apostle of Christ Jesus. As mentioned above, the Lord wrecked and destroyed Paul’s career of destroying God’s Church. One meeting with Christ Jesus is all it takes to change the vilest sinner's life; this essay's writer is a case in point.

When Paul met Christ Jesus on the road to Damascus, he lost all interest in following a self-indulgence path. From that moment forward, he surrendered to Christ Jesus and committed to spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth. It works the same way with all of us; when we meet and give our lives to Jesus, we will no longer strive to please ourselves. Instead, when we become indwelled with the Holy Spirit of God, we will desire nothing but to serve God and others. No fame or fortune can hold a candle to knowing and surrendering to Christ Jesus.

When things became exceedingly difficult for Paul, and he went through tribulation that we cannot even imagine, he did not give up on his calling from Christ Jesus. Instead, Paul continued to spread the gospel to all parts of the world to the best of his capability. That is all that God will ask of us, surrender to Him and serve Him with all of our heart, mind, body, spirit, and soul—continuing on that path, no matter how much antagonism and hostility we encounter.

Paul referred to the Christians in Ephesus as “God’s Holy People.” As Christians then and today, the only holiness and righteousness we hold is in Christ Jesus through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Holy people of God are those living a renewed life; no one is righteous in and of themselves (Romans 3:10). Any righteousness that we might manifest is because we reflect the light of Christ Jesus.

Those that are not in Christ can reflect only human nature; salvation by God’s grace through our faith in Him is the only way to manifest the righteousness of Christ Jesus. Therefore, we have to choose from only two options, in Christ or not in Christ. The one in Christ is a new person, born again into a new life surrendered to God’s will (2 Corinthians 5:17). Those walking in the light of Christ Jesus instead of a worldly life of the flesh will know no condemnation (Romans 8:1).

Karl Marx saw a new person and a new society, but only in financial and monetarist standings; Paul saw a new person and a new culture, all achieved and realized by and through the work of Christ Jesus on the Cross of Calvary.