INTRODUCTION: Throughout the next week, Time With God will continue to explore who we are in Christ. Our prayer is that you will grow in confidence and hope as we unpack biblical truth about who God has made us to be. Please note that there will be no Digging Deeper section.
GETTING STARTED
To be established is to be made sure, firm, and well-grounded. To be anointed is to be deemed worthy, ready for position. A seal is a mark intended to prove or affirm. It can also act (as it does in today’s passage) as a deposit for an inheritance yet to be realized.
I was intrigued by the word anointed, so I dug a little deeper and here’s what I found. Long ago, the technique of anointing with oil was used by shepherds on their flock. Insects would often embed in the sheep’s wool and burrow their way into the sheep’s ears. Once the insects were in their ears, the sheep would die. Shepherds, as a means of protection, anointed their flocks with oil, thus making their skin slippery so pests could no longer attach and devour their sheep.
- Similar to these ancient shepherds, God the Father has protected and provided for you, too. Consider this as you study today’s verses about who you are in Christ.
READ THE WORD: 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 (ESV)
21 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, 22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
RESPOND TO GOD
It would seem that when we were bid to come and follow Jesus, God had more in mind than we could have ever imagined.
We are rooted, grounded, established in Christ. Not because we’re great people who make wonderful life choices, but because Christ lives in us and is our anchor, our rock, our strong tower. We are anointed by God, like successors of a king, to be the very essence of Christ in the world. With said anointing comes protection from known adversaries whose chief aim is to creep into our ears like buzzing gnats, distorting truth, lodging lies, debilitating us with disbelief. Their objective is ultimately futile because we’re marked with a seal that all of heaven recognizes and all of hell fears… the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit that Christ sent to be with us while he’s away (John 14:26) is our guarantee of what’s to come—namely, our prepared place, our true home, our happy ending.
It’s worth remembering that we were made for more than what we often settle upon. The truth is that you and I are royalty, representing a kingdom where Christ reigns. That’s good news on hard days!
- Thank God the Father for grounding you in Christ and for sealing you as his own.
- Live today as one established, sealed, and anointed by God!