Imagine that you have been summoned to the Oval Office. It is such an honor. You stand looking at the room where Lincoln, FDR, Truman, Kennedy, and Reagan worked as they lead our country. So much history has happened here. So much power has been applied here. This is where conversations of war and peace, treaties and technologies, threats foreign and domestic have been considered, weighed and acted upon through the orders of the man who sits in the chair behind the big desk; the President of the United States of America.
For me, being surrounded by that kind of power and authority would be intimidating. I would likely stand where I was, trying to see everything I could, until I was invited to enter further or to have a seat.
Now imagine that it’s not the president you’ve been invited to visit, but God. To enter into his presence is to experience power, glory, and holiness. We would quickly become aware of our sinfulness, and perhaps cry out like Isaiah, “Woe is me!” I am ruined! But the words spoken to us are not ruin or power or glory or even holiness for that matter. Instead they are simply, “Have a seat.”
Not a principal’s office, “Have a seat.” But a stop and your grandparents house as they’re about to pour a cup of coffee, “Have a seat.”
Ephesians 2:4-6 says because of God’s mercy and because of, “the great love with which he loved us,” (there’s something about that phrase that grabs my heart), even while we were dead in our sin, God raised us in Jesus and seated us with Himself and Jesus in the heavenly places. “Have a seat,” indeed!
All of this is about God’s grace that moved him to call us to be his own people, to forgive us through Jesus and to welcome us into his presence. The picture is even more poignant when you look back at verses 1 & 2. It talks about being dead in trespasses and sins in which we once lived. The word translated “lived” (in the NIV, others have “walked”) literally means “wandered around.” It’s a revisit of the Prodigal Son. We’ve wandered around, lost in this world, sinful, trespassing – that is crossing all kinds of boundaries – and being disobedient. Now we find ourselves in God’s presence, and the invitation is, “Have a seat,” because of Jesus.
I don’t know about you, but I feel the need more and more to be able to just have seat with God from time to time. That time seated with him reminds us how much our Father loves us and how powerful his forgiveness is. It’s a time to be reoriented; this isn’t about what we can do for God, but what He has done for us! It’s a time to be reassured; we are His, in fact the word used in v. 10 is that we are his workmanship – his “fearfully and wonderfully made” people.
So, pour yourself a “cuppa”, and have a seat. Listen as he speaks to you in His Word, and respond to him in prayer – it really is just a conversation! Have a seat.
Heavenly Father, thank you for seating me with you through Jesus in the heavenly places. Knowing that is really too much for me! But help me to have a seat and rest in Your presence and, by being with you, help me to know how much you love me with Your fatherly love. Amen.
For me, being surrounded by that kind of power and authority would be intimidating. I would likely stand where I was, trying to see everything I could, until I was invited to enter further or to have a seat.
Now imagine that it’s not the president you’ve been invited to visit, but God. To enter into his presence is to experience power, glory, and holiness. We would quickly become aware of our sinfulness, and perhaps cry out like Isaiah, “Woe is me!” I am ruined! But the words spoken to us are not ruin or power or glory or even holiness for that matter. Instead they are simply, “Have a seat.”
Not a principal’s office, “Have a seat.” But a stop and your grandparents house as they’re about to pour a cup of coffee, “Have a seat.”
Ephesians 2:4-6 says because of God’s mercy and because of, “the great love with which he loved us,” (there’s something about that phrase that grabs my heart), even while we were dead in our sin, God raised us in Jesus and seated us with Himself and Jesus in the heavenly places. “Have a seat,” indeed!
All of this is about God’s grace that moved him to call us to be his own people, to forgive us through Jesus and to welcome us into his presence. The picture is even more poignant when you look back at verses 1 & 2. It talks about being dead in trespasses and sins in which we once lived. The word translated “lived” (in the NIV, others have “walked”) literally means “wandered around.” It’s a revisit of the Prodigal Son. We’ve wandered around, lost in this world, sinful, trespassing – that is crossing all kinds of boundaries – and being disobedient. Now we find ourselves in God’s presence, and the invitation is, “Have a seat,” because of Jesus.
I don’t know about you, but I feel the need more and more to be able to just have seat with God from time to time. That time seated with him reminds us how much our Father loves us and how powerful his forgiveness is. It’s a time to be reoriented; this isn’t about what we can do for God, but what He has done for us! It’s a time to be reassured; we are His, in fact the word used in v. 10 is that we are his workmanship – his “fearfully and wonderfully made” people.
So, pour yourself a “cuppa”, and have a seat. Listen as he speaks to you in His Word, and respond to him in prayer – it really is just a conversation! Have a seat.
Heavenly Father, thank you for seating me with you through Jesus in the heavenly places. Knowing that is really too much for me! But help me to have a seat and rest in Your presence and, by being with you, help me to know how much you love me with Your fatherly love. Amen.
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