What are some of the benefits of being saved? (continued…)
Ephesians 1:3-14
- God puts us in the good pleasure of His will (5, 9),
There was an old man in the Hulett area that I was afraid to visit for quite some time. I knew who he was and I knew that he and his wife Always went to another church in the area (note the capital “A”). But there was a connection that he had with some folks in our church and, due to his wife’s failing health, I had to stop in and pay a visit. To my surprise, the man opened right up to me, took a liking to me, and invited me to come back. Rather, he insisted that I come back.
Within several weeks, this man also became ill and he and his wife took turns for the worse so that they were eventually in adjacent rooms in the hospital. Naturally, I went to visit. As I was visiting with the man in his room, the other pastor came in. I got up and offered him my chair and planned to go find another. But, to my surprise, the man stopped me and told me to come and sit on the bed beside him. I immediately thought of Luke 14:8-11 and Jesus’ instruction that we are to take the lowly seat and let the master call us to the seat of honor. I cannot think of any other sign this man could have done to show me that I was in the good pleasure of his will.
There are a lot of people in this world who have more money, more power, more authority, more prestige, and more importance than us. But when we are saved, Jesus calls us forward, past all of those supposedly important people, and invites us to sit close to Him. This is not something that we earn. The good pleasure of God’s will is something God gives to us when we are saved.