Are you weary? Do you feel burned out by the business of life? Have you lost your zeal for Christ or the gratitude for your salvation? Perhaps your heart has hardened and you don’t even realize it.
Mine had. I was totally unaware.
Looking and praying for that to change, I began to read Ephesians chapter 1 verses 1-14 while asking the Holy Spirit to pierce my heart with the reality of what God has done for me through His son Jesus. It greatly helped me as I read the scripture verses where the pronouns “we” or “us” were used, to replace the words with “me” or “I”.
This is how I read the verses. Blessed be the God and Father of my Lord and Jesus Christ, who has blessed me with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose me in Him before the foundation of the world, that I would be holy and blameless before Him. In love, He predestined me to adoption as a daughter through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on me in the Beloved. In Him, I have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of my trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on me. In all wisdom and insight, He made known to me the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him………In Him also I have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will. In Him, I also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of my salvation – having also believed, I was sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of my inheritance until I acquire possession of it with to the praise of His glory.
Now, lets really, really mull over the incredible richness of what this is saying. The verses are written in purple. It starts out by blessing the Lord, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”……..The supreme duty of creation is to give praise and to commend our God. “Who has blessed me with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ”……….I’ve been blessed! I’ve been given complete and total blessing by the total source of all blessings, God, through the realm of God’s complete heavenly domain thanks to Christ. “Just as He chose me in Him before the foundation of the world”…….. Wow!! God was thinking about me, making plans for me first, before He created the world! His concern for me was more important than His creation of this magnificent world! I came first! “That I would be holy and blameless before Him;” God chose me, an unrighteous and unworthy sinner to stand before Him and be declared holy, righteous, and worthy of His salvation! “In love, He predestined me to adoption as a daughter through Christ Jesus to Himself”……….. God’s reason for choosing me? Love. There was nothing in me to make Him want to choose me, nothing but sin. My salvation, my being made God’s daughter, is all about His love and grace, nothing else. What a humbling, wonderful feeling it is to be loved that much! No one here on this earth could ever begin to love me that much! Again, all of this is through Jesus Christ. It is He, who through His atoning death made this possible. Thank you, Jesus! “According to the kind intention of His will, to the praise and glory of His grace”.……..Again, it was God’s kindness, it was His will for me to be saved. I had nothing to do with it. That is why it’s to the praise and glory of His grace. If I at all had a part in it, if my salvation in any way shape or form was dependent upon me, then I guess I could receive some of the credit, right? But no! That’s why it’s to the praise and glory of His grace. God gets all the praise and glory! It was His grace, His unmerited favor, a complete and total gift!
Is your heart being pierced yet? Is the enormity of God’s love and amazing grace leaving you awestruck? Let’s dissect some more of these amazing verses. “Which He freely bestowed on me in the Beloved. In Him, I have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of my trespasses”……Again, I am reminded of Jesus’ tremendous sacrifice, the total emptying of Himself through the shedding of His precious blood in order to cover for my sins. Jesus paid the price that I was supposed to pay for my sins so that I would be forgiven! Forgiveness was freely bestowed on me in the beloved Jesus Christ! “According to the riches of His grace which He lavished on me”……These are the only kind of riches we should want or need, the riches of God’s grace, His unmerited favor. There is absolutely nothing I could ever do to earn even a tiny fragment of God’s grace. Not only has God lovingly and mercifully shown me grace, but His word says that He lavished it on me!! Wow!! To lavish means to bestow something in generous or extravagant quantities upon. God has been extravagant in the grace that He has chosen to bestow upon me! “In all wisdom and insight, He made known to me the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him”.…..God has also freely bestowed upon me in Christ Jesus, wisdom and insight as to His will for my salvation and for the church. How? Through the illumination of His Word with the help of the Holy Spirit who now dwells within me, another free gift of God through Christ Jesus. God shares with believers His purpose for our salvation and His purpose for His church. “In Him also I have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will”.…..Through Jesus, I have obtained a divine inheritance that is so much more than any earthly inheritance I could ever want or hope for. This inheritance is eternal and filled with an abundance of God’s riches. This divine inheritance is so certain that it is spoken of as if it has already been obtained! God set this in motion before the foundation of the world and in His sovereignty is working all things according to His will, including my salvation, my inheritance! “In Him, I also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of my salvation-having also believed, I was sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of my inheritance until I acquire possession of it to the praise of His glory.” God’s word says that after I heard the message of salvation and I, in faith, believed in Him (that faith is also a gift from God, lest I should boast. Ephesians 2:8,9), that He sealed me with His Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is given as a pledge of my inheritance. Not only did God, through His amazing grace save me, but He gave me the Holy Spirit to guide me so that my salvation should never be lost! I am forever sealed as God’s own! I know that if left up to me, I would lose my salvation. In my sinfulness, I would surely mess it up! But God in His infinite love and wisdom has taken care to make sure that I will always be His! All this is to the praise of His glory!
God is good. He’s good when I don’t deserve it. I will never be able to fully grasp the measure of His love, mercy, and grace. How deep, how wide, how infinite. There is nothing more humbling than God’s unmerited favor upon my eternal soul. Oh, how I long for the realization of what He has done to sink in more!
My friend, if you are a true believer, these verses apply to you just as much as they do to me! Does your heart need to be pierced? If so, perhaps you’ll consider joining me in the practice of daily reading and inserting yourself in these rich and powerful verses. It will make a difference in your heart and in your thinking.
One Little Candle 