Ephesians 1:3-14, July 10-16, Year B:

This is one of the most magnificent passages in the whole of Scripture, in one of the grandest books of the whole New Testament.  It is as though in the letters to the Corinthians and Galatians, we have been dealing with all the necessary and practical aspects of church life--administration, discipline, misunderstanding, conflicts--and then, we come to this epistle, as though Paul is holding a Bible conference, and finally teaching some of the most glorious truths of the faith.

 

We are chosen, predestined, adopted--and all according to the plan of God, which has been unfolding since the foundation of the world.  These verses speak of our election and God's sovereignty.  Some want to make this passage simply say that Christians in general are the recipients of all  these things, not individuals.  But I see no warrant for that interpretation.  Paul is not just talking about the church collectively here.  He is talking about God's choice and blessing of us individually as well as collectively as the body of Christ, the church.  God's choices have always been personal and individual--Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Christ's choice of the disciples, His choice of you and me.  This is the comfort and the assurance of these wonderful spiritual blessings of which Paul speaks.

 

It is also the reason why we must remain so humble and watchful.  We are embraced by His grace.  His love for us is personal; but it is not based on anything we have done.  We cannot take any of the credit.  We dare not feel proud or superior.  It is all of grace.

 

As I write this, I'm thinking of people who are constantly beset by feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness.  I am thinking of people who are confused, stricken with grief, disappointed with life.  Yet, if they, or you, are a Christian, you can already have the assurance of knowing that you are embraced by His grace.  It has been decreed by the King.  As the old country gospel song says, "That old account was settled long ago."

 

But you may be asking:  "What about the people who are not Christian?"  We do not know but what they too are embraced by His grace, and just don't know it yet.  If someone is seeking, is yearning, is being moved to ask these questions, the chances are that such a person is being drawn by the Holy Spirit.  The key is that such a person must not resist the working of the Holy Spirit.  There will come a time that there resistance will become habitual.

 

I once counseled a young woman named Mary.  She said that one of the reasons she came to me was because I was blind.  She was so ashamed of her looks, her clothes, and especially of the tears she could not hold back.  Her main problem was that as a teen-ager, she had walked away from God, from the claims of Christ on her life.  Through her sobs, she wondered, "How can God love me now?  I've walked away from Him once.  How do I know He'll take me back?"  She believed in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Saviour of sinners; yet, she still had lingering doubts about the love of Jesus.  

 

I tried to assure her that the fact that she was even asking the question, and that she was agonizing over it so much, was a clear indication that the Holy Spirit was working in her life.  If God had abandoned her, if the Spirit wasn't working in her life, she wouldn't even be concerned about such things!  

 

In later years, I have thought of so many other things I could have said to Mary.  I certainly referred her to this Bible passage, and many others.  I can't say for sure, however, that she ever fully understood what I was trying to tell her during our several weeks of conversation together.  I pray that at some point, she realized the embrace of God's grace.  And I pray that for you today.--Daniel.