Who We Are & Why We Are

New Years Eve is a curious time. Some will think of the year that's gone and hope for better in the new year. Some will think of resolutions they will endeavor to bring about. And some will be resolved somewhat fatalistically that nothing will change even when the year does.
However, what we draw from the year gone, nor the year to come, is as important as what God says about who we are and where we are going.
In Paul's letter to the Ephesians, Paul tells the Gentile Christians and us, who we are in God firstly– that we are holy and blameless before Him because of Christ, that we were far off but now we are near to God in Christ. We need to know who we are and why we are – children of God, before receiving the helpful and practical advice in the latter chapters about what it is to live as a child of God in the midst of a fallen world.
If I could encourage us as one year ends and another begins, to read the letter and be encouraged as the children of the loving Heavenly Father.