Eph. 1:14

14 (The Holy Spirit) who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession-- to the praise of his glory.

Until the redemption of those who are God’s possession. I am God’s possession. God owns me. I do not possess or own God. If it would be up to me to desire fellowship with God it would be bad news because, try as I may, with all my might, to go through all the demanding disciplines to enter his presence, I still stand at a distance, yearning but not entering. The human tragedy is to yearn for God, knowing that I can do nothing to satiate that yearning in my soul. Yearning is meaningless unless a way is found to actually enter into the presence of Almighty God.

I must pause before God and let him show the way. I surely can not find the way on my own. The truth is, he possesses me and so is responsible for me, entirely and always. He even gives me the desire (oh, what a precious gift!) to want fellowship with him. I do not come by that naturally. When I feel the longing to rush to God, I find it humbling to realize that the longing is a gift from God. He places within as, when we are reborn, this precious longing. The only part that I can play in opening the way to peace with God is to simply say, “Yes, covered by Jesus’ blood, I enter.”

To the praise of his glory.

Paul ends his introduction with this word of thanksgiving and praise. God deserves all the praise my full heart can know and show. God gives an ample supply of thanks. I need to replenish my store of thanksgiving so that I can give him – not the glory that he deserves, that is way beyond me, but the glory that I am able to give as I worship him and adore him.

So, Paul, in his opening greeting, lays out in magnificent detail, the bed-rock truth – Jesus saves each of us, no matter what our backgrounds and then forms us into a fellowship of love. As we participate actively in the fellowship of open-faced love we find that God uses us to share the Good News with everyone, everywhere we get the opportunity.