Every Spiritual Blessing

This is one of my all-time favorite passages of Scripture. We not only see Paul’s great love and affection for the Ephesians, but also his deep desire to help them to know more fully God’s great purpose for their lives. In fact, his passion is so strong that in Greek, verses 3-14 are one long sentence!

In these 13 verses, Paul uses the phrase ‘in him’ or ‘in Christ’ 10 times to remind them that they have received every spiritual blessing available from God because they are faithful followers of Christ. Not just a few, but EVERY blessing. For those in Christ, God holds nothing back! They are holy, blameless, adopted, redeemed, forgiven, grace-filled, chosen, and heirs. In giving the world his son as an offering for sin, he truly gave and continues to give his all. And with all these blessings, the Ephesians and we are fully equipped to fulfill his purpose, “to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ (v10).”

I don’t always stop to remember what I have gained by being in Christ. While I can often feel weak, faithless, and ineffective, these verses remind me that I am full of God’s power, the ‘incomparably great’ power that raised Jesus from the dead (v19-20). Nothing else can compare to this power that is at work in us and through us as believers! It is beyond my comprehension to understand that kind of power inside me, and it was most likely the same for the Ephesians. Therefore, Paul prays that God will continue to give them wisdom and revelation to know him better and that the ‘eyes of their heart may be enlightened.’ Paul knew that they and we would never fully understand, but that we can continue to know God more and more deeply as we stay faithful to him through Christ.

So that is my goal – to continue to learn. To never settle into thinking that I know enough about God and his purpose. And to continue to remind myself daily who and what I am in Christ.