If You Only Had One Paragraph of the Bible…

 

Imagine if you were forced to choose just one paragraph of the Bible to have…that’s all you could have. Everything else would be taken away…what paragraph would you want? I’m sure there are a lot of options and good paragraphs to suggest; though I doubt any of them would come from Leviticus! Anyway, as we begin our time in Ephesians today, may I suggest the opening paragraph in Ephesians 1. Here it is: 3 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, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. That’s a great way to open up a conversation with the Ephesian church in this letter. May I suggest that you just spend a few minutes with these sentences as I suggest a few ways to reflect on this passage. First, you have been blessed with “every spiritual blessing”; not just most of the blessings but every one of the blessings “in Christ”. If you think your blessing balance has gotten low, you just are not looking in the right account. Second, you have been chosen by God. You did not come to Christ by accident…He chose you. You stand before Him in holiness and blamelessness, despite your sin, because that sin has been paid for in Christ. Third, God adopted you into His family because He “wanted to”. You are a “wanted man/woman”. Consider your self worth with that in mind. Finally, please note that you have been accepted on God’s terms and through His actions…not your own actions in any way.

I’m not really sure that this paragraph would be my first choice for the “only paragraph” question. That’s not a question that I have really given any thought to; but I think this one paragraph would give both you and me a lot of truth to chew on and to be blessed by. If you have another paragraph, please feel free to share it.