Paul opens his letter to the church at Ephesus with the bold declaration, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places ..." (Eph 1:3). "Really, Paul? 'Has blessed us'? 'With every spiritual blessing'?" Paul goes on to list some (Eph 1:4-14), but clearly not all of them. Quite a claim.
Paul's list includes being chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, being holy and blameless, being predestined to adoption as sons, being redeemed through His blood, forgiveness of trespasses, knowing the mystery of His will (the summing up of all things in Christ), an inheritance, being sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit, and being God's own possession, all "to the praise of His glory" (Eph 1:6, 12, 14). It isn't a complete list, I would imagine, but it is a good one.
It begs the question, doesn't it? We often pray that God would bless us. And that's fine. But do we actually believe that He already has? With every spiritual blessing? Sure, it may not be in our hands yet. We have an inheritance coming. A guaranteed inheritance. So it makes me wonder, at least about myself; how much is enough? Is "every spiritual blessing" enough, or am I demanding more?
2 comments:
Yet another lingering part of our sin nature, needing to find satisfaction in everything He has given us.
Balancing wants and needs is something that I struggle with regularly. I've definitely been trying to focus on God's provision and being satisfied recently.
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