This past week was the first week of Good Morning Girls (GMG) new session and we will be studying Ephesians for the next few months. I was so excited to get back into a regular Bible study and am super excited to have several real-life friends, near and far, that are going to be joining me through this study.
Ephesians is one of my favorite books of the Bible. It is one of those books that I come back to over and over again. If I am thirsty for God's Word and don't know where to start, I generally find myself in Ephesians. In college, I even took a wonderful class on Ephesians alone. Yet, God is still teaching me through studying Ephesians and I look forward to all He has planned for me to learn in the coming months.
This week we studied Ephesians 1:1-14;
"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of you salvation-- having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory." (NASB)
He chose me, He adopted me, He redeemed me, He let me in on His plan, and He promises me an inheritance. Why? "To the praise of His glory." All of creation brings glory to the Creator, but He has chosen to show grace to me (and you) as a means to bring about that glory. He could bring glory upon Himself in any variety of ways. He is God, He does not need me (for glory, or anything else). But because of His "kind intention" He choses to give grace as a means of bringing glory to Himself.
God's choice to give free grace to an undeserving creation is pretty incredible. I want to live for the glory of a God like that. I want to be like Him, with kind intentions and full of free grace, even for those who do not deserve it.
As I have studied these passages this week, in addition to being overwhelmed by His grace, I have done a lot of thinking about God's will. This passage indicates that His will is the summing up of all things in Christ. But I know that God also has a specific plan (or will) for each of our lives. People often ask God to make known to them His will for their life. That seems like a good idea, but if I'm perfectly honest, it kind of scares me to ask for God's will. I mean, what if He tells me what He wants me to do and it is scary? I can't exactly say that this passage has me feeling cool, calm, and collected about asking God what He wants me to do with my life, but it has certainly helped build my trust a bit by reminding me that God has kind intentions. It has also reminded me that it is not about me, regardless of what God asks me to do, it is not about me, it is all about Him.
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