llenroc34

I love love how it was stated in the Lesson ("We aren't in God's family by happenstance of birth (to continue with the adoption analogy), but by God's choice. God loves you!"). I believe that adoption is an apt illustration of God's relationship with us...b/c like it was stated in the lesson, God chooses to take care of us like an adopted child. He chooses to feed us, cloth us, love us unconditionally, just like an adoptive parent would. This idea of adoption is encouraging to us because we know that someone loves regardless of our past, we always have an adoptive parent, God.

I think that being holy is being Christlike, treat others and ourselves as Christ Jesus would. Blamelessness is an awesome thing. Many times I feel like I can't forgive my own past misgivings, but I know that God has and I can move forward with a renewed sense of peace and continue to work towards being holy and live up to my blamelessness...if that makes sense.

I think predestination is scary b/c we now know that our futures, what we WANT FOR OURSELVES, is not in our hands but in God's hands. Scary stuff, especially for me being a control freak sometimes and wanting to plan everything according to the way I would like it to turn out and be. Well, what is comforting is that God protects and will not give us anything that we can't handle or despise. So he may have us doing something that is not necessarily glamrious, but it ends up being fulfilling and exactly what was meant for us. Honestly, I don't know why Paul is bringing predestination up, maybe because he wants us to know that we have already been given a plan for our lives and instead of walking without Christ, we should walk with and in him so that we may receive the ultimate gift that God has created for us before we were even born. Maybe he is praising God for it because he knows what God has in store for him/us will be extraordinary and something that is meant for us to fulfill us.

I believe that being in Christ means that I am an extenstion of him, meaning that I must ask myself continuously what would jesus do and act like him in an effort to be "in Christ" or "incorporated in Christ". I wish I had looked at this question before today. I have encountered many events in my life, especially the past few months, weeks, days where I have not acted as if I am in Christ or incorporated by Christ. But I hope that I can move forward with an renewed sense that I am in Christ and should act accordingly.

Hi, I live in Texas and I am excited to learn about Ephesians!