THE FOLLOWING VERSE reads: “we who first hoped in Christ have been destined and appointed to live for the praise of his glory” (Eph. 1:12). “We who first hoped in Christ”—the phrase may mean that we were among the first in time to hope in Christ, or it may mean that we had no hope until we found it for the first time in Christ. Probably the latter meaning is the true one. Hope is born out of contact with Christ, and to be in Christ is to be in hope. To be out of Christ is to be out of hope.
Hope is a Christian virtue, but not a non-Christian virtue. It was looked on as illusion. The non-Christian position is: “Life will keep the word of promise to your ear and break it to your hope.” The Christian position is: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope” (Rom. 15:13). “Abound in hope”—that is the picture of a Christian. He never knows when he is defeated, for he begins with defeat—the defeat of the cross. You cannot defeat Defeat, for the Christian turns the defeat of the cross into the victory of Easter morning. He sees a sunrise in every sunset, an oak tree in every decaying seed. He sees a saint in every Magdalene, a rock in every wobbly Simon, a new beginning in every sad ending.
“We . . . have been destined and appointed to live for the praise of his glory.” We are destined to live in His way, for His way is stamped within our blood, our tissues, our nerves, our makeup. We can live against that destiny, but if we do we get hurt—automatically.
We are appointed to live according to that for which we are destined. Suppose the appointed and the destined were in conflict—destined for one thing, appointed to another. Then we would be hopeless conflicts. But to be destined and appointed to the same thing is to be in hopeful concord. Destined—appointed—alternate beats of the same heart!
O God, my Father, how grateful I am that I’m destined and appointed to be in Christ, to think in Him, to act in Him, to love in Him. When I am in Him I am in Life, abundant, overflowing, eternal, now and hereafter. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: Since His appointment for me is my inherent destiny, I shall accept them as one.
