As a child, I always thought of the “church” as a building until not that many years ago. I’ve come to realize that the church is much more than just the building where we meet to worship and learn about God. The “Church” is a group of people who accepted Jesus as Lord of their hearts and the Savior of their lives. Many of us have mistakenly only thought of the church as a building. Ephesians 2:21-22 confirms that Christ’s temple, His church, are people in whom God’s Spirit lives.
19 “So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. 20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21 We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. 22 Through him, you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.” Ephesians 2:19-22 NLT.
In Ephesians 2:1-17, Paul explains to the Gentiles (anyone not born into a Jewish family) that God has saved us by sending Christ to die for our sins. Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection opened the door for the Holy Spirit to live in our hearts. When we choose to put our faith in Christ, believe in Him and the sacrifice He made for us, this opens the door for the Holy Spirit to start speaking to our thoughts and directing our decisions. Prior to this act of saving grace, which God has done for us, we were all directed by our enemy, the Devil.
2 “You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the Devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the Spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. 3 All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature, we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.” Ephesians 2:2-3 NLT.
So there’s a clear choice for us. We can choose to keep being directed by the Devil, or we can choose to be directed by God, our Creator who loves us. This was a theme Paul wrote about back in Galatians as well.
The thing that strikes me the most about all of this is that there is no middle ground. In the spiritual world, we either belong to the Devil or to God. If we choose not to accept Christ’s sacrifice, which releases the Holy Spirit’s guidance over our lives, we aren’t free to be ourselves, or in the middle, or in some kind of neutral spiritual territory.
No, if we choose not to accept Christ’s sacrifice, then we belong to the Devil, the king of all liars and the enemy of our souls. There are only two options, not three. The other interesting thing about this passage in Ephesians is that it seems a choice is required on our part to come over to God’s side of things. Before a decision for faith in Christ, our natural state is that we belong to the enemy. Again, there’s no neutral territory or spiritual Switzerland. We belong to the enemy or to God. It seems to me that this really is the most important decision anyone will ever make in their life!
“So I say let the Holy Spirit guide your lives, then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.” Galatians 5:16 NLT.
Thank you, God, that out of your beautiful love and heart for us, you made a way for us to be free of the Devil’s grasp. Help us to hear Your voice above the noise of the enemy’s schemes and plots. Help us to choose well.
