Matching Your Practice to Your Position

"God chose us ... that we should be holy and blameless before Him" (Ephesians 1:4)

The Challenge of Christian living is to increasingly match your practice to your position.

God chose you in Christ to make you holy and blameless" in His sight. To be "holy" is to be separated from sin and devoted to righteousness. To be "blameless" is to be pure, without spot or blemish - like Jesus, the Lamb of of God (1 Peter 1:19).

Ephesians 1:4 is a positional statement. That is, Paul describes how God views in "in Him [Christ]. God sees us as "holy and blameless" because Christ our Saviour is holy and blameless. His purity is credited to our spiritual bank account. That's because God made Christ "who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Despite our exalted position in God's sight, our practice often falls far short of His holy standard. Therefore, the challenge of Christian living is to increasingly match our practice to our position, realizing that sinless perfection won't come until we are fully glorified in Heaven (Romans 8:23).

How do you meet that challenge? By prayer, Bible study, and yielding your life to the Spirit's control. Commit yourself to those priorities today as you seek to fulfill the great purpose to which you've been called - the "good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10).

Suggestions for Prayer: Thank God that He does not expect you to earn your own righteousness but has provided it in His Son. Ask His Spirit to search your heart and reveal any sin that might hinder your growth in holiness. Confess that sin, and take any steps necessary to eliminate it from your life.

For Further Study: Read Philippians 1:9-11. What ingredients must be added to Christian love to produce sincerity and blamelessness? What is the primary source of those ingredients (see Psalm 119:97-105). What specific steps are you going to take to add or increase those ingredients in your life?

~John MacArthur~