When the Holy Spirit comes down, he changes our culture. We go from selfishness to selflessness, from pride to humility, from fear to courage. 

The Bible calls us to live with wise urgency. How are we going to do that? By being filled with God himself.

When Christ calls us to himself, he calls us immediately. There is no ramp-up period. We don’t ease into new life with Christ. He starts his work immediately, and he never lets up.

If you’re in Christ, God relates to you not like a king to a servant or a boss to an employee but as a father to a child, with warmth and depth, tenderness and care, attention and intention.

The Christian has a hope that a non-Christian cannot have. It is the hope that everything in this life is meaningful.

Your sin can’t kick you out of God’s love because your righteousness never put you in it. God saves by grace through faith. It’s a gift. All you must do is receive it.

Throughout Ephesians 1, there is a goal. Three times, in verses 6, 12, and 14, is a call to praise God for his grace. I wonder what you think of that. I wonder if it sounds a strange goal to you?