Saturday, July 5, 2008
Ephesians 1:4 . . . that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love
FULL OF GIFTS: WITH A PURPOSE
Even though His choice is without reason, it is not without purpose. And here Paul gives to us the purpose or the end result of the choice, for in God purpose and result are one. He did not merely wish to save us from the fires of hell. More than that, He wishes and purposes to restore us to what He always intended us to be, creatures created in His image.
The fact that this aim and purpose is brought about despite our sinful nature, only because of His love and solely by His power and might working in us, in no way diminishes the aim and end goal. In fact, it only enhances it. Often people criticized Martin Luther saying, "If you take away penance and purgatory and all these other things, the people will have no reason to do good." But such a criticism grossly misunderstands the Gospel of God. God does not pick us out of the mud solely for the sake of picking us out of the mud. He picks us out of the mud in order that we might continue towards that goal which He has set before us. And although He might pick us up more times than any language has words to express, His purpose is always that we might receive the ultimate spiritual blessing, absolute perfection. And even though it is not fully attainable to us in this life, He who calls us His own purposes that we continue to strive after that goal.
This, then, is where we go back to verse three and realize the importance of Paul's statement that God has given to each of us every spiritual blessing. In other words, every possible advantage and/or weapon that could in any manner be useful in straining towards this goal, God has given to us. We often feel like God has not given us the strength, the love, or the knowledge that we need to conquer some particular sin or problem in our life. But remember what Christ says to the disciples when they asked for greater faith, "If you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you."
Thus it is that we who are so very feeble need never despair and say, "I will never conquer this or that problem." Nor need we say, "Why, Lord, won't you give me greater strength?" Rather we can move forth with certainty knowing that He, who chose us, has also equipped us with every possible blessing to aid in that fight.
