A Word from Ephesians 1

Do you ever wonder what God was doing before He created the heavens and the earth? Was He enjoying the peace and quiet that He probably knew would end as soon as He made us? Was He making plans to ensure that stars and galaxies, mountains and rivers, plants and animals, all functioned in beauty and balance? Or could it be that even then His attention was focused in a much more intimate way?

Well, in today’s word from Ephesians Chapter 1, Paul offers “a peak behind the curtain,” so to speak. Hoping to help God’s people place their lives in the Grand Story of what God is doing in the world, he says, “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.” And here’s what I want us to notice: “Even before he made the world,” Paul says, “God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.” (1:3-5; emphasis added)

You see, even before God said, “Let there be…” He was already thinking about us! He was choosing us to know Him, to be conformed to His image, and to be adopted into His family through the grace of His Son. “And why would God do that?” you might wonder.

Well, Paul continues, “God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill his own good plan. And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth.” (1:9-10; emphasis added)

So today, let’s live like those who know how long and how passionately God’s been thinking about us. And in all that we say and do, let’s participate in plan to create unity in Christ. Amen.