Blessed, Chosen, and Blameless
“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. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” Ephesians 1: 3-4
Paul starts his letter of Ephesians with praising God and reminding believers of all they are promised in Christ. This passage is filled with gifts of God that are promised to us because of Christ. Let’s look today at just the first two verses and remember what great gifts we’ve been in Christ:
- We are already blessed with every spiritual blessing. Verse 3 says God “has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” Whatever we need, whether it’s wisdom, peace, joy, or discernment, it is all ours in Christ. God’s resources are there for us whenever we need them. While these gifts are not of the tangible kind, the beautiful thing is that they never wear out or go away. Money will be spent, material objects will be worn out or lost, but God’s grace and love will never leave us.
- We have been chosen before the beginning of the world. I think we all know what it feels like to not be chosen. Whether it’s for a sports team, a friendship, or a dating relationship, the sting of rejection is painful. But what if the truest thing about us is that we have been chosen and loved by the Creator of the world even before the world was made.
- We are called holy and blameless because of Christ. The truth is that before Christ, we are broken sinners in desperate need of a savior. Even our best works could not get us clean in God’s sight. Yet because of Jesus’s death on the cross, we are redeemed. And when we begin to follow Jesus, we are called to be holy and blameless. The gift of the Holy Spirit teaches us to be more like God, and we grow in the things He loves as we walk in obedience to Him.
What should our response be to these miraculous gifts? Theologian Charles Spurgeon says that we should worship God for His goodness to us: “We are not sitting here, and groaning, and crying, and fretting, and worrying, and questioning our own salvation. He has blessed us; and therefore we will bless him. If you think little of what God has done for you, you will do very little for him; but if you have a great notion of his great mercy to you, you will be greatly grateful to your gracious God.”
May you be filled with a great notion of God’s great mercy for you today, and may it lead you to worship our good, loving, and gracious God.