God's Possession and What It Means

In today’s first reading, Ephesians 1: 11-14, Paul again reminds us that we are God’s possession, “chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the One who accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will, so that we might exist for the praise of his glory….[I]n  Christ],…[we] were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,…the first installment of our inheritance toward redemption [and sanctification] as God’s possession.”

Wow!  The impact of Paul’s message is even more powerful when we insert our names in this passage: Dorothy Ann (your name), you are chosen! Why me? Why you?  Because you and  I are sinners  in need of redemption and sanctification.  And chosen for what? To realize our destiny as designed by God, who “accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will.”  We may question whether or not we are truly accomplishing “all things according to the intention of God’s will. However, that is God’s promise to us and God does not break His promises.  When we fail to follow the Spirit’s lead, God uses those circumstances to reconcile us to God, to make right our wrongs, so to speak.  God’s intention is that, “sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, …the first installment” of our “inheritance toward redemption as God’s possession,  that we lead lives that give “ praise of [God’s glory]!”—that we are glorifying our God by how we live the Gospel.

God’s gift of being chosen comes with a price: the death of His only begotten Son. God  sent His only begotten Son to pay the ransom for our sins. For our sake, Jesus bore the curse of sin, dying  a horrible death on the cross to reconcile us to the Father. Jesus gave His life that you and I, all of us,  might fully realize the gift of redemption and sanctification here on earth by the way we follow the Lord as  faithful disciples.

Am I, are you, on a daily basis, making choices that glorify our God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit? God Almighty? God, who, in the words of St. Francis of Assisi, is all good, totally good? Do I, do you,  reflect God’s goodness in our attitudes, in our actions each day?  If not, why not? If not, how am I, are you,  betraying God's trust?