Seated with Christ

Ephesians 2:6 (NIV) says, "And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus." I am not personally seated in heaven at this moment, next to the throne of God, so I am going to assume that Paul's language is figurative. To be seated means to have authority, and this passage of Scripture is in present tense: when we are in Christ, we are--in the present time--given the authority that Christ was given by God.

Okay. That's a big thought. We were talking about this in my community group at church, and this passage comes right after a reference to Satan as "the ruler of the kingdom of the air." Remember how the ruler of the kingdom of the air came to Jesus in the desert and said, "All this is mine, but I can give it to you if you bow down and worship me."

Satan knew that Jesus had some pretty awesome authority that was given to him by his Father. And he knew that Jesus had a pretty important work to do, just like Ephesians says that we have: "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (v.10) So to "trump" Jesus' authority and distract him from his Father's mission, Satan offered to give Jesus his own authority over the kingdoms of this world.

Where are you going with all of this, Angie? Follow me just a little longer on my rabbit chase. There are lots of parallels between what God planned for Christ as the first of many brothers and what he has set before us. And if Satan tried to distract Christ, isn't it just possible that he is trying to distract you and me? Has he ever taken you up and shown you what you could have in the world? When he offers you worldly pleasures, worldly authority, worldly opportunities, how do you respond?

I'm afraid that sometimes I don't even notice what the prince of this world is offering me until I'm already down his path. Jesus answered the enemy, "Go, Satan! For it is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY'" (Matthew 4:10). May we see what the worldly prince puts in our path, and turn our hearts to God and worship him only. Give us pure hearts, Lord.