We Are Greatly Blessed

Paul's letter to the Ephesians is a tremendously joyful celebration.

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. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will, to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. (Eph 1:3-7 NIV)

​I encourage you to read chapter one and count the individual blessings that are now ours through Christ. It's not just the ones that have been listed, Paul says; every spiritual blessing is ours and has been given freely to us. There may be times when we don't feel particularly blessed, we may be going through struggles or hardships and feel that life has become a bit of a fight. That's ok! Our inheritance is not dependent on our earthly circumstances but has been secured for us and held safe in the heavenly places. If you like, they're in our heavenly bank account.

We are blessed in such an extravagant way simply because we belong to God, not as a chattel or piece of property but as sons and daughters. Before the creation of the world the Father wanted a family and that family included us. We are joint heirs together with him.

In our western understanding the word 'adoption' creates an image of someone who didn't belong who then became a part of the family. That's not the way it is for us; we've always belonged but got lost along the way. Perhaps, instead of adoption, being redeemed back into our sonship is a better way of looking at it.

The greatest blessing of all is the assurance that our sins have been forgiven and we have been made right with God. How wonderful that he chooses to lavish his love and grace on us.