A Badge of Honor - Eph. 4:1

"1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received."
Eph. 4:1

A Badge of Honor:
I love how Paul views his imprisonment as a badge of honor, not as something that went wrong. As he sought to live a life worthy of his calling it landed him in chains... and he is ok with that! I would like to think that I would be ok with that as well because it is a result of following my calling. I love how he sees his purpose for imprisonment as well. He is a prisoner for the Lord, not because of the Lord. The point is that it doesn't matter where it leads, you are to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.

What is this calling? It's all the previous chapters in Ephesians!

1. You were chosen in Him to be holy and blameless in His sight!
2. You were predestined to be adopted into God's family!
3. You were redeemed to be for the praise of His glory!
4. You were included in Christ and held securely by the promised Holy Spirit!
5. You were called to know God and the hope to which you were called!
6. You were made alive in Christ!
7. You were seated with Christ in the heavenly realms!
8. You were saved by grace through faith in Christ!
9. You were created in Christ to do good works!
10. You were made one with every believer and share full citizenship as God's people!
11. You were given access to approach God with freedom and confidence!
12. You were made, in your inner being, to be a dwelling place for Christ!
13. You were rooted and established in love!
14. ALL THIS WAS FOR HIS GLORY!

Everything God has done for us was for His glory. He has made us new creations... He has made us His! I am using past tense on purpose. I challenge you to read the first 3 chapters again and see for yourself. Paul is describing what God has done in your life already, not what he is going to do. This is the amazing thing about your calling! If you have come to a place in your life of belief in Christ as your only hope of salvation, repented of your sin, and turned to follow Jesus, then you are already those things listed above! Paul is now challenging you to live your life worthy of that calling. Live your life worthy of an adopted child of God! Live your life worthy of of a dead man who has been made alive! Live your life worthy of one who is already seated positionally with Christ in the heavenly realms! Our motivation for living our life in such a manner is what the Lord has already done in our lives! I have a sneaking suspicion that Paul was ok with being a prisoner because he embraced his calling first!

So let us go and live our lives in such a way that represents our calling!

P.S. - I just noticed how many exclamation marks I use :)

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