Verse 3 says “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.” (NLT) We bless God with our praises, having a heart of gratitude and thanksgiving for all that He gives. And He blesses us with His presence that leads us to success, goodness, and prosperity.
Verse 4 says “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.” (NLT) We were chosen by God not because of anything we did but because of God’s own pleasure. God decided out of His own love that before we were ever born, He was going to adopt us into His family through Jesus. We didn’t even get a chance to mess up or even think about messing up before He chose to save us from ourselves.
Verse 7 Before we accepted Christ as our Savior, we were exposed to the judgment of God and bound by chains to misery. That means we were living without Grace. When we messed up, we had to pay up. Before Jesus, we were living like our good works saved us from going to hell. But we were bound to the chains of trying to be good enough, trying to do all the things that would bring happiness to our lives. We were living in our own abilities like life depended on us alone. But only by Jesus’s blood, His grace, can we be saved.
Verses 9 and 10 say “God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill his own good plan. And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth.” (NLT) It pleased God to make Jesus and the Gospel known to us. God decides when He wants to reveal hidden things to us in the right season of our lives. Today there are things He is keeping from you because it is not the right season to reveal those things. Tomorrow you may wake up with a revelation from the Holy Spirit speaking to you about something that was once kept hidden because now it’s the right time to reveal those things.
Verse 11 says “Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.“ (NLT) This reiterates what we just read in verses four and five. God looks at nothing outside of Himself – nothing in us – to move Him to choose His people. We brought nothing of our own to deserve sharing in God’s inheritance which is in Heaven.
Verse 12 is basically saying we sinned and couldn’t be saved except by Jesus’ blood on the cross dying for those sins to be covered. And because of that, we should be walking vessels (people) of mercy and so thankful for Jesus’ covering. And if we are grateful people with our words and the way we live our lives, we will shine in the goodness of God, which gives Him glory.
Verse 13 and 14 say “And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.” (NLT) If we have accepted Christ’s sacrifice for us, we have a testimony of the spirit of God working in us who seals His truth and removes all doubt. We don’t have to question if we have been saved. We have the Holy Spirit now living with us and proves to us we have been saved.
Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for Jesus. Thank you for His blood that washes away my sins so that you can look upon me as holy and blameless because of His sacrifice in my place. Thank you for uniting us with Him and giving us access to spiritual blessings in Heaven. Help me live from a heart of gratitude, giving thanks throughout the day for all that you’ve blessed me with. Thank you for choosing me to be one of yours. For finding pleasure in calling me yours. So that I don’t have to spend my life and eternity in chains of misery, chains of trying to measure up, chains of trying to be good enough. As I wrestle in your Word, reveal your hidden things to me. I want to know you more, Jesus. I want to call Heaven down to earth to intervene in all my relationships, all my comings, and goings. Help me to open my mouth and share your mercy with others. Nudge me when I forget and give me the courage to share your work in my life. Seal Your Truth in my heart and remove all doubt of Your saving grace so that I may be confident with this testimony You are writing with my life. May my life shine for your glory, God. In Jesus’ name, Amen.