Our position in Christ

“…and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” Ephesians 2:6

I wonder if you’re like me at all in this: I love how God’s Word is alive and active, sharper than a double-edge sword (Hebrews 4:12). You too? His Word never fails, and it always proves true. When I seek God with all my heart, I find Him (Jeremiah 29:13)…always. I never need to wonder if God will be present when I search out His Word. I never need to guess if His presence will be found when I pursue Him. Every time, He will be found. Every time.

Therefore, as I look into Ephesians 2:6 today and the promises that lie within, I need not wonder if these promises are true. I also don’t need to wait for them to come to fruition. They already have. Look at the verb tense for both “raised” and “seated” – past tense verbs meaning that both of these promised things are immediate and direct results of our salvation. At the moment of our conversion, we were raised up from the pits in which we once dwelled, and we were seated with Him, our Father in Heaven. This should DO something to your soul! This should shake your insides and rock your world. This should cause your heart to flip-flop, all in a good way. We, the lowly sinners and the undeserving, have been positioned next to God in Christ and been found worthy recipients of His mercy and grace. Not only do we enjoy the benefits of forgiveness and the joys of being dead to sin and alive in Christ, but we also share in Christ’s exaltation because just as He was raised from the dead, we too have been raised from the death that our sin had us bound up in and been made alive in Christ.

Take a moment and read Colossians 2:12. Through what have we been raised in Him? And if we have been raised from death to life, do our lives display this incredible hope? Are we tangible expressions of this grace that has raised and seated us to the world around us?

Our position matters because it should determine our activity. Knowing that we are seated with God in Christ should cause our future to be drastically altered for His glory. It should challenge us to live lives worthy of our calling, lives that reflect our position in Christ. It should determine our course. It should transform and renew our minds and alter our decision making. So, does it? Do our lives reflect the nearness of God and His presence that we experience on a daily and momentary basis? Do people taste and see that the Lord is good when they interact with us? Because they should. We sit next to God. Let that sink in for a moment. The God who is Holy and dwells in unapproachable light that can not even look upon sin, allows us to be seated next to Him in Christ. That is our position in Christ. We have immediate access to Him at all times because of our position in Christ. So, do we take advantage of that access and call on His name, living lives that are in constant desperation for more of Christ? Or do we live as if we could survive much of life without Him? Does a world that is lost without Christ know the hope that we have in Christ because of our lives well-lived? Do they see it in us? Or do we push them further away?

Perhaps, we need a reminder today of our position in Christ. We have been raised and seated with Christ in the heavenly places, the supernatural realm where God reigns. Why should this reality thrill us? Because this is where our blessings are found if we are in Christ (Ephesians 1:3); this is where our future inheritance is if we are in Christ (1 Peter 1:4); this is where our affections should be (Colossians 3:1-3); and ultimately, this is where we should enjoy fellowship with the Lord.

So, do we? Do we know, understand, and believe our position in Christ? We’ve looked at and studied in depth our position prior to Christ, and now we embrace the hope we have been given in Christ.

We have been raised.

We have been seated.

Allow these truths to arrest your soul, to captivate your heart, to renew your mind, and to change your future. You are His, my friends. Your paths are His. Your plans and purposes are His. And your position is in Him.