Prisoner

DEVOTION
EPHESIANS
PRISONER

Eph 3:1-3
3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—
2 Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you, 3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. NIV
I never thought of myself as a prisoner of Christ Jesus, but I suppose that is exactly what I am along with Paul and many others. I know it is easy to think about salvation as a personal thing and all the benefits of being saved, especially eternal life. I know it seems sort of a self centered thinking method, always thinking about being saved, escaping the inevitable doom of perishing. But being a member of the body of Christ, being a citizen in the Kingdom of God requires thinking outside my “self”. I see the calling upon Paul for the benefits of others. The reason he was saved was for the sake of those gentiles, which I suppose would include me in a sense. But I cannot stay with just looking at the call of Paul, I must inspect the call upon me. I have been saved, not only for my own salvation, my owe forgiveness of sin, my own relationship with God, but I have been saved for the benefit of others. True, not just I but every believer, but I have to internalize this fact and see and act based on this knowledge. I am here for the sake of others. I am here to serve Christ and in doing so serve others. True, again all believers have this calling, but each has an individual function. I know my function, I know my calling, I know what it is Christ desires of me. I know for what I have been saved for. At times it is not the easiest to be who God desires ne to be. At times I want what I want and not what he does. Yet I have to come to terms with the undisputed fact, God has called me to a task for his glory. I am his prisoner.