Confidence in the Lord Doesn’t Come Easy
having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
Ephesians 1:18–21 ESV Read More
What We Think Perfection Is
There was a question asked at a leader’s meeting this week at OneLife Core: How has your life been different since you’ve been following Jesus (not necessarily better)? Built into that question is the honesty that following Jesus isn’t always blessings and chocolate and gold and pleasure. If you see the things Jesus said about following Him, it’s actually none of that.
But look at the things that Paul is praying for Ephesus to know:
The hope to which we have been called
The riches of God’s glory that He gives to us
The greatness of His power to us (not only for us and with us, but freely available to us!)
That He rose Jesus from the dead
That He gave authority to Jesus to rule over everything
Those are all things to write on post-it notes and meditate about all day long. We are offered immeasurable power to cope with life and the thrive through any circumstances. We have unspeakable happiness waiting in heaven but occasionally leaking into this life. We have been given, by grace, an unmatched relationship with the God of the Universe to have insight into what He wants to do in the world and in us.
But perfection? It didn’t come the way we thought it should.
Sick People Don’t Get Raised from the Dead
This whole section sounds wonderful for us and is supremely glorious for Christ because it isn’t camping out on Good Friday. This prayer is all about the results of what happened on the cross, but Paul and especially Jesus would never deny what happened that day. Jesus had to completely die to be brought back from the dead. That’s why it was so awful. That’s why He was half-embalmed and left from Friday afternoon (day 1), all day Saturday (day 2), and then raised on Sunday morning (day 3).
Jesus went through death and was raised to life, in part, to be the firstborn of a new creation. The new creation over which Christ rules is made up of people that have been re-created. They may still sin and they may still struggle, but at the heart of their identity, that is no longer who they are.
New creation people have a hope and calling from God. They have confidence of the riches of God’s glory that is being saved and shared with them. They know full well that resurrection happens after the death of the old sinful life.
It was right for Paul to pray that they would know these things. That is a foundational list that affects every other aspect of our lives.
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