People a Person Can Count On ...

“As God’s prisoner, then, I beg you to live lives worthy of your high calling.” (Ephesians 4: 1)

Paul’s taken us to Heaven – the “real unseen world” that is our environment – and shown us how God sees us. Now he brings us back to earth and the time-bound realities we must cope with day-after-day.

He begins with a personal reference. “God’s prisoner,” is the credential he presents to give him credibility with his readers. He’s not Rome’s prisoner. No, our Lord, Christ is his Supreme Commander. He has been since that day when He appeared in blinding light and called, “Saul! Saul!” Under Christ’s rule Paul has travelled the Roman world establishing Churches in virtually every Province. But here, now, in his final letter to those Churches, he does not use these phenomenal achievements as his credential. Under Christ’s rule he’s now imprisoned. That’s his credential. The “suffering” Jesus is his Master. To endure pain and bondage with Him is the highest calling Paul could imagine. He saw it as the primary credential a Christ-follower could present.

Furthermore, to be “in chains” and still focused on his “high calling,” is the fabric you’d expect to find in a Christ-follower. Our Lord never lost focus. In the throes of pain no human can imagine the “Grace” of the Father was still unmistakably present. He prayed for His tormentors. “Father forgive them,” He prayed. “Truth” was not compromised in His prayer either. “They don’t know what they’re doing,” He prayed. He knew they were blind to what they were doing. They’d been seduced by the tempter and deceived into believing that Jesus’ claims were fraudulent. His compassion overrode the agony in His heart. The compassionate love of the Father still weighed more heavily on His tortured mind than the loneliness He felt in that darkest of all nights.

Paul, Christ’s Servant, never loses focus either. He can be counted on. His message is backed by his life. “Grace and truth,” the character traits of Our Father and His “only begotten,” will characterize this “prisoner.” We can “count on” his instructions for “life worthy of the highest calling.”