Thoughts From Ephesians 1 - Part 1

  Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to God’s holy people in Ephesus the faithful in Christ Jesus:2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, Eph. 1:1-8

         If this passage was all the scripture we owned, what would we know? First of all, there is a God who knows everything - past, present, and future. That means He knew me before the beginning of time.

         Second, He does what He wants for His own pleasure, will, and glory. He isn't subject to anyone - He calls all the shots.

         Third, His character is one of justice and righteousness tempered by grace and love. Love causes Him, who needs no one to create the inferior human beings to shower love on. However, his justice and righteousness cause Him to cast them from His presence due to sin. But His grace, spurred once again by His love, causes Him to send His Son to take the penalty for our sins so He sees us as righteous. His love then adopts us into His family as sons and daughters if by faith we receive this gift of forgiveness.

         Fourth, He does this with all wisdom and understanding. He knew that by making us, He would have to redeem us through the death of His Son (there was no other way), yet He still did it because to get us as His Children was worth it to Him for some unfathomable reason.

         The amazing thing is even though so many people have been told all of this, they still choose to reject Him or say that He hasn't done enough. Not me! I can't believe He did all this for me and I will serve Him the rest of my days and for all eternity.