January 27, 2006
Who's Your Daddy?
Ephesians is a really fun book to read. I think a lot of believers read this book frequently. It is so rich in explaining the depth of God's love and grace,
detailing what wonderful things God has done on our behalf. Like just about all of his letters, Paul starts off this message to the church in Ephesus with:
"Paul, an apostle of CHrist Jesus by the will of God. To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
Then he jumps right in:
"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."
This is a (very positive) generalization that he quickly starts detailing:
"For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will -- to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves. In
Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment -- to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ."
It can be mind-blowing to think that God saw us before we existed in time and had a plan (not "plan B") to redeem us. It's such a good use of words to write that God "lavished" grace on us. He wasn't a miser when He doled out His grace, measuring each drop. He poured it out in abundance.
Can you imagine having an uncle or grandad like Paul? Someone who told you:
"Ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe."
Maybe you do have a relative that says or writes things like that to you.
Well, today should be the final day of deadline. I'm almost finished printing proofs of every page. I'll overnight these to the printer. Then I'll go over any corrections I've got from the proofreaders, and then I'll convert each page into a PDF file that I'll ftp to the printer's server and the job will begin.
I'm not sure what I'll do with myself to have this deadline over.
