your seat at the table.
Have you ever struggled with feeling like you aren’t good enough? Your life feels crazy and even chaotic at times, and you feel like your life is far too messy and unraveled for God.
What if I told you that despite our imperfections, shortcomings and failures, God still invites us to be a part of His family.
There is a place for you and for me at God’s table.
Ephesians 2:4-6 NLT says,
“But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.”
Now some of us have read this scripture over and over and we often bypass certain words. I know I have. I tend to focus on the “God so rich in his mercy” part and the part where it says “He loved us so much” that I forgot one of the main words…
Seated.
What did it mean that I was already seated at the Greatest Table with the Greatest King?
You see, Paul wrote this while he was in prison. Why was Paul able to write this when he was seated – not at any kind of royal table – but in a prison?
Which brings me to my next question: How would a person who is seated with Christ live?
If I could be personal with you, I knew that I wasn’t living like someone who had a seat at the table. I lived like I was fighting for a seat at the table.
How many of us have been there?
Everything about my life before I knew Christ and even afterwards– even my ministry activities – became more about trying to prove I was special or important.
Some of us may even blame our past lives or mistakes we’ve made. Some of us may even blame current mistakes or hardships that we are walking through and think to ourselves, “God is too perfect for me”, or “I will never be good enough to worship Him like he truly deserves”.
So we quit. We stop pursuing. We stop developing our relationship with Him. We stop feeling like we belong and isolate ourselves from God. But once I discovered the TRUTH, and finally saw myself seated with Christ at the table, I knew that I had already arrived.
Everything I longed for – that belonging, recognition, and security – was already happening to me because I was with Jesus. Most importantly, I could take my eyes off of myself and just rest in my seat, worshipping Jesus and living out the “good works which God prepared in advance” for me to do as promised in Ephesians 2:10.
I love the Passion Translation of this verse which says, (Ephesians 2:10)
“We have become his poetry, a re-created people that will fulfill the destiny he has given each of us, for we are joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. Even before we were born, God planned in advance our destiny and the good works we would do to fulfill it!”
So, getting back to our main question : How do people who are seated with Christ live?
Let me give you 3 Spiritual Verbs that may helps us:
1. They Acknowledge Christ.
Are we acknowledging Christ in our lives? Where in your order of importance have you placed Him?
Proverbs 3:5-6 says,
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
In order to to be seated with Christ, we must acknowledge Him. Acknowledge him in all our ways. Not as a last resort, but as our first choice!
2. They Access His Riches
As children of God, joint-heirs, we can access all the riches of His Kingdom.
“Riches” refers to true, lasting, eternal spiritual wealth that we have in Jesus Christ.
We can access: everlasting life, grace, mercy, forgiveness, love... it goes on and on.
Ephesians 3:8 TPT states,
“...Grace alone empowers me so that I can boldly preach this wonderful message to non-Jewish people, sharing with them the unfading, inexhaustible riches of Christ, which are beyond comprehension.”
When we are seated with Christ, we must take hold of these riches which He has given to us as sons and daughters!
3. They Abide in Him
When we are seated with Christ, we must learn to abide in Him to bear the fruit He desires for us.
John 15:4-5 NLT says
“Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.”
By choosing to abide in Him, we multiply and expand our branches. We bear good fruit that will remain in our lives simply by choosing to have a life-union with Christ.
At the table we can experience the belonging we have always craved. The community we have always desired. And we can finally begin to live freely without comparison.
At the table we have the fullness of Christ. We have His power, His provision and His purposes, which change us from insecure, lonely, and rejected people to those belonging at the Greatest Table with the Greatest King.
Have y’all ever been to a Planetarium? I have on school field trips. I would always rush to find the best seat not understanding that every seat had the same view.
When you go to the planetarium, there will always be this sign :
“All seats provide equal viewing of the universe.”
There are no best seats. No matter where you sit, you won’t miss any part of the show.
Just like us in our own lives, we must believe that no matter what’s happening to us, we know that all seats provide equal access to the fullness of Christ at all times. We have everything we need right here.
Our Heavenly Father has prepared a place for us. He promises that no one can take away our place at His table, no matter what. We don’t have to work ourselves til we are weary to earn a spot at the table. We don’t have to out-perform others or be perfect in every way to claim our spot. The truth is, there is nothing we have done or could ever do in order to deserve a spot at His table. But in His goodness and grace, God has made a spot for each one of His children.
In John 14:2, Jesus tells His disciples, “There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?”
How does this Truth set you free from feeling like you're not enough?
What are some changes we can make to better understand our place at the table?