Non-Performance Seal

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2 Corinthians 1:21–22 (NKJV) Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

What It's Speaking to Me

Have you ever been in a performance-based relationship? Whether a romantic relationship, or perhaps with a family member or friend? A relationship like that at your job with your boss is to be at least somewhat expected, but if you have ever experienced that kind of dynamic in a personal relationship, you know how unsettling it can be.

You never really know where you stand unless you are doing well at meeting whatever expectations that person has. If you mess up, you know or at least feel like the relationship is at risk. You never settle into that relationship; you aren't allowed to, really. There is little rest and little real joy in those relations.

Unfortunately, I think we can bring our relational baggage, our background, and our experiences into our relationship with God, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and we don't even realize it. We filter our understanding of the Word, our prayers, and even the Spirit's responses through that performance-relationship lens.

We feel that when we mess up, forget our morning prayers, or don't read as often as we should, the Holy Spirit must be distant, or at least close by wagging His finger in our direction at our lack of spiritual progress. And so subtly (or not so subtly) we slowly frame our belief as if the Spirit's presence depended on how well we show up.

These verses describe something different. The Holy Spirit isn't a feeling we work up when we are at a spiritual high. He is a seal, a deposit, a guarantee. The Spirit's presence isn't conditional on our spiritual performance. We are established, anointed, and sealed in Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit acts as the proof, the guarantee, that these things are true.

Since there was nothing we could perform to earn salvation, why would the seal of that salvation be a performance-based one? Our relationship with the Holy Spirit is not a performance-based one. It is a miraculous gift given to us by a loving Father through His Son. We never have to approach the Spirit based on how well we did that week. He lives in us, close by, at hand, ready to work in us and through us.

Let THAT seal sink in, and kick out the baggage of that performance-based past.

What Is It Saying to You?

Do you actually believe you are sealed? Or does a daily anxiety suggest otherwise?

What Are We Going to Do About It?

Identify one area where you're living "unsealed" and repent (change your mind) of the doubt underneath it.