The Blessings of God

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Scripture: Ephesians 1:3-20 (ESV)

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

 

Meditation:

            Here at the beginning of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians we read one of the most powerful blessings ever given to a church. This blessing is meant for us as well. Paul is letting the Ephesians and us know that God has chosen us to be the recipients of the fullness of God’s love and grace.

            These words should put to an end forever our striving to earn God’s love and grace. For those who will simply believe in Christ these gifts are lavished upon us love upon love and grace upon grace until we collapse under the weight of those gifts and are brought to our knees in thanksgiving.

            These seven verses show us that we were predestined before the world was ever created to be God’s own children. That by the cross all our sins are left behind us and we would be blessed with every spiritual blessing. Regardless of how unworthy we as humans might be. God now sees us through Christ’s work on the cross and resurrection and we are clean and holy when viewed in that light regardless of how dirty the rags were that we were dressed in before we met Christ.

            All of our good deeds are like filthy rags before the one who has given his life to save us. God doesn’t need our good works, but our fellow humans do, so we keep doing them for the world’s sake not for God’s sake. Let us give thanks to our wonderful God.

 

Prayer:

God in heaven, thank you for all the wonderful things you have done for us through the cross of Jesus Christ. We thank you for our salvation, sanctification, and service to the world that you have chosen us for. Help us Lord to enjoy the fruits of your finished work on the cross and to share those fruits with our neighbors and friends. Amen.

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