As you’re reading this, I’m in Dallas at the Cru Winter Conference to speak on Ephesians 2 on being seated with Christ. What a life-changing message I continue to preach to myself daily!
I love Ephesians 2:1-10 as a fresh start to a fresh year because it tells us everything we need to know about ourselves, Jesus, and our purpose. Consider memorizing this passage and thinking how your life would be different if you knew you were already seated at the greatest table with the Greatest King. Here’s what Paul writes (most likely from a Roman prison):
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
We are already seated! What if you stopped fighting for a seat at the table and started living in the new reality of being seated with Christ? Here, you’re adoring Jesus, accessing all the riches of God’s kingdom, and abiding deeply to produce the good works prepared in advance just for you. No more jealousy. No more comparison. No more fear. No more self-consciousness. No more sadness that you’re missing out. No more anxiety that you need to create a perfect life or maximize each moment. 2023 is our year of joyful surrender as we sit back with Jesus in our seat in the heavenly realms. And we pray with fresh authority for God to work powerfully within us, our families, and our communities.