“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.”
~Ephesians 1:7-8
In Christ Jesus… (vs. 1)…In the heavenly realms… in Christ (vs. 3)… in him (vs.4)... in accordance with his pleasure and will (vs. 5)… in the One he loves (vs. 6)… In him… in accordance with the riches of God’s grace (vs. 7).
We are only seven verses into the text, and Paul has located us on The Great Treasure Map of God, where riches abound and where we are invited to search and find and explore our identity from now until eternity. Each of these ‘in’ locations are sweet and personal; in-timate. God is calling us Beloved.
The gift of redemption is very near and dear to the vocabulary of Paul; of the ten times the word is used in the New Testament, seven of those are attributed to Paul. The word hearkens back to the Divine act of deliverance the people of Israel experienced when they were freed from the bonds of captivity and slavery to Egypt.
We are free—slaves no more! The wages of sin no longer hold us captive. The penalty for sin has been met on our behalf. We are now servants to righteousness. The whole of our identity has been remade and renewed through God’s own lifeblood as a starting point to a new understanding of who we are, what we are called to, and how we are now abled to respond.
This is a gift which none of us deserves and is described here as a gift beyond the wealth of anyone’s comprehension. It is lavished* upon us to the point of overflow—we cannot contain it, it spills out and over us—to move beyond us and into this broken world, with two words which capture different nuances of one idea: ‘wisdom and understanding.’ The first speaks to general wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. The second suggests that the outward overflow moves us to apply that same wisdom in practical application.
Who we are, where we are located with regard to our New Creation identity, is freely-given and abundantly resourced, and it comes without any works, any human effort, mystical technique, or religious perfection.
We are Beloved.
This week, spend some time on each of the following practices:
- Hearken back to the practice you were invited into the exercises from the devotional Whatcha Got. You were asked to begin each day with a set of morning intentions. Hopefully, you have been continuing this practice since then. If not, I invite you to go back to that posting and defamiliarize yourself with this daily practice and reinstate it into your morning routine.
- As you move forward, introduce a new component into the end of your day: Evening Reflections. Before you retire for the night, ask yourself…
- What are three things that I experienced today that were positive and beneficial to me?
- What is something I could have done differently to change a negative experience into a positive one?
- Conclude by locating yourself again with an affirmation statement, I am ________. This time, use the words of today's devotional as a lens through which to see yourself. Use the lens of Scripture to see yourself more fully the way that God sees you, not the world, your friends and family, or your coworkers, but God.
- Spend time in prayer, talking to God about your affirmation statement.
- Is your affirmation statement a positive one? Tell God how it feels to be His child.
- Is your affirmation statement negative? Take this to God and ask Him to renew your mind tonight as you sleep.
Remember: Discovering who you are in God's eyes is the most powerful and liberating understanding one can have to find peace and purpose in one's life. May God give you this peace!
