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 to be adopted as his sons 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 with all
wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will
according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ… –
Ephesians 1:3-9
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He has blessed me in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing!
With how many blessings?
EVERY spiritual blessing in Christ!
He chose ME before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in
his sight!
What did He choose me for? For hardship? For misery? NO!
TO BE HOLY AND BLAMELESS! In *His* sight! (Even when I am not in
my *own* sight!!)
He predestined ME!
He adopted ME!
And WHY did he do these things?
He did this according to HIS pleasure and will!
He did this for the praise of HIS glorious grace!
He has redeemed ME!
He has lavished the riches of His grace on ME!
He has made known to ME the mystery of His will!
And WHY did He do these things?
He has done this for HIS pleasure!
For some strange reason the God of this Universe, the One who brought the
Heavens into existence with a single command, the One for whom the morning
stars sang, the One who holds it all together…for some reason, this One,
this great I AM has chosen ME. For some strange reason it brings him
pleasure to save ME, to adopt ME, to pour out *every* spiritual blessing on
ME.
If these aren’t reasons to fall head over heels in love with this One, I
don’t know what would be!!!!!
Compare this One, this incredibly strong, intelligent, creative,
coordinated, loving, compassionate, merciful, gracious GOD to the
god–*food*–that I have served for so long. There is NO contest! This ONE,
this mighty Lord of Lords and King of Kings is the best thing going and the
old “love” is ancient history!
Let’s ponder this One! He is MIGHTY, wonderful, loving! Food [in excess]only robs, kills, destroys.
Lord, thank you for such a clear picture of just how incredible you are. I
feel like the young peasant girl who has been swooning over the
amour-bearer of the Prince only to see the Prince Himself on his gallant
steed come to sweep me off my feet! For so long I have been focused on
food so much that I missed just how awesome you are. Forgive me my
blindness, Lord. I ask you to reveal any other idols in my life and give
me the strength to hang on to only you. Amen.