Richly Blessed in Christ - Ephesians 1:3-6

Looking back at my family growing up, it was a struggle for my parents. Making ends meet to provide for our large family was difficult. But God always provided and blessed my family in numerous ways. I feel that the greatest blessing I ever received was from my parents, who abided by the Word of God and raised me with a foundation in Christ. They were nowhere close to perfect parents. We all experienced our struggles with each other. But through lots of prayers and keeping the focus on the simple truth of Christ, I can look back on my life and see just how richly blessed my family and I was through the highs and lows of growing up.

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Ephesians 1:3-6
³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴ even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 
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First things first, God deserves all our praise. Not only is He our God, but he was also the God of Jesus Christ, who is also God. Jesus submitted to God the Father and prayed to Him. God the Father deserves so much more than we can ever offer, except we can offer our hearts. Blessed be God the Father, meaning He deserves all our praise and worship. Why? Because through Jesus Christ, he has blessed us. God has blessed me an my family with material blessings by not being in want, but these are fleeting and temporary and mean nothing in the eyes of God. We are thankful for all that God has done in our family, but it is because of God that we are blessed. But Paul points out that we have something even better than material riches. God has blessed us with EVERY spiritual blessing in Christ. EVERY…that’s a lot. The spiritual blessings bestowed on us are far greater than any material blessing because they are heavenly. 

Again, spiritual gifts are ‘given’ to us. There is nothing that we have to do or ought to do to earn them, and there is nothing that we must do to earn favor in God’s eyes. If that is the case, we will always fail God for not doing enough. Paul is telling us that spiritual blessings are freely given to us because of Christ. It only requires faith. 

Faith is the most important aspect of our lives as Christians. There are so many aspects that we need to rely on God and trust that what is in His Word is the absolute truth. So many aspects of the Bible cannot be proven by science, and it requires faith that God is powerful enough to make these things happen. Paul says that we are justified by that same faith. The faith in believing that Jesus was resurrected from the dead. Therefore, we must have faith that God called us before the foundation of the earth that He created. It is in Christ that we are now found blameless and sanctified. He can be called ‘holy’ and ‘saint’ because of Christ. How is this? Because of His love for us. It was God’s will for us to spend eternity with Him through His Son, Christ. Since Adam and Eve sinned, God longed for a personal relationship with us, but sin was in the way. Now, sin no longer has a hold on our lives. God has accepted us in Christ. His love was so great that he sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to be the one to break the wall and break the bondage that we were enslaved to. Because of this, He deserves praise for His glorious grace. 

God calls us to love one another. We are to live according to Christ, despite being wretched sinners. Because we are alive in Christ, God has blessed us with EVERY spiritual blessing from heavenly places. Remember that God will provide you with what He needs you to have. He develops and strengthens you for the tasks ahead in your life. God has richly blessed all of us, but what are we doing with those blessings? 

Let us be encouraged that the more we abide in Him and walk according to His will, the more that it won’t be what we are ‘doing,’ but it will become who we are living in Christ.