Select a Ring of Truth daily devotion online
Ring of Truth provides 366 daily ‘proofs’ that the Bible is consistent throughout from Genesis to Revelation, and relevant for our lives today!
Select the date to display the devotion for:
Ephesians 1:13-14
“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the Word of Truth, the Gospel of your Salvation. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of His glory.”
Guaranteed.
Paul’s letter to the Church at Ephesus is a masterpiece.
It is worth reading Acts 19-20 again to remind us of his visits to that city and of both the opposition and obvious ‘soft spot’ the elders had in his heart. The church received one of his most spiritually mature letters, and like so much of Scripture, it is a challenge as to what one highlights in a book such as this.
The church is mentioned again in Revelation 2:1-7, which sadly suggests that they turned aside from their early spiritual fervour and became traditional, judgmental and inward-looking. A challenge indeed to us all.
Here, Paul was addressing his ‘young’ Gentile converts and reminding them that they had received all the blessings that come from salvation in Christ Jesus (v 3). Verses 3-14 need to be read at least once a month - they are so powerful. He reminded them (and us) that it is all from Christ, through faith. We don’t do anything towards it. They are all freely given to us because of the grace, love and atonement of Christ.
What is more – Jesus has given to us “a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance”. Guess what that Promise is? Better still – Guess Who that deposit is? Yes, His Holy Spirit. You see, we need to get a grasp on this. It is one of the greatest blessings and differences about Christianity as against any other religion. We are saved by faith and faith alone, and we are ‘being saved’ through faith alone.
Our eternal salvation is secured. It is secured because we become “children of God” – not by sexual intercourse but by the new birth of His Holy Spirit (see John 1:12). Just as my children never stop being my children – no matter what they do – so too we cannot stop being “children of God”. The option is not ours.
Also we receive “a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance” (v 14). (See also 2 Corinthians 1:22 & 2 Corinthians 5:5.) Listen, God has made a Covenant. God cannot break His Covenants. He is the Covenant-keeping God. You and I who put our faith and trust in Christ are partakers of the New Covenant. We, like the Ephesian Christians, have become beneficiaries of the New Covenant in Christ. And as part of that and as proof of that – we have been given a deposit. That deposit is a “something inside us.” It is God’s seed or ‘sperm’ if you like, which proves and guarantees our ‘childhood’ of God.
The wonderful thing is that the “deposit” is not some thing but Someone. None other than the Holy Spirit Himself who will “guarantee” our salvation, blessing and inheritance – until it is fully ours through redemption at our death and resurrection.
It cannot be more secure. We cannot be more secure or sure that since we have put our faith and trust in God through Christ, we will also, one day, see Him and be like Him forever.
Come on – say “Hallelujah” with me.
And guess what? It is “to the praise of His glory”.
Download the above Ring of Truth devotion as a PDF.
Previous Day's Devotion | Next Day's Devotion
To subscribe to this daily devotion by email visit our Daily Email subscription page.
