The Holy Spirit is Our Guarantor | Morning Routine for December 10

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. —Ephesians 1:13-14 (ESV)

In today’s passage, Paul is encouraging Christians in the church of Ephesus by detailing the blessings they have in Christ. Paul says that they have been chosen by God, through the work of Jesus Christ, to be holy and blameless before Him (1:4). They have been redeemed, through the power of Christ’s blood on the cross, for the forgiveness of their sins (1:7). The Lord, under His sovereign will, allowed them to obtain an inheritance which is eternal life with God (1:11-12).

Paul is giving them truly good news, but it seems fitting for them to ask how they can be sure that all of this will happen. They believe the message to be true, but what guarantees the inheritance that God promises? Paul notes that the seal of the Holy Spirit is God’s stamp of approval, placed within the believer by God himself.

As Christians, the Holy Spirit is in us, just as it was within the Ephesian Christians. If you believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and His death takes your sins away, then you have been born of the Spirit. You don’t have to work for His guarantee; you already have it. And that presence inside of you is the presence that enables you to live out the new life you’ve been born into.

Be encouraged today, and be led by the Holy Spirit to do the work of God!