Every Spiritual Blessing

When I wrote to the saints at Ephesus, I could not begin with their troubles or even their needs. I had to begin where the truth begins: "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" (Ephesians 1:3). Notice that word — has blessed. Not may, not might, not one day. It is done. And notice where the blessings are: not scattered here below where moth and rust destroy, but "in the heavenly places," secure, and all of them "in Christ." Everything I go on to say is only the unfolding of that one sentence.

So I traced it back to its source, before there was a world to bless. "He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him" (Ephesians 1:4). Before you drew a breath, before you had done anything good or bad, love had already moved toward you — "in love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 1:5). Hear that word, adoption. God did not merely acquit you as a judge; he took you home as a Father, and he did it "according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace" (Ephesians 1:5-6). Grace is not God's reluctant afterthought. It is his glory, and he means to be praised for it.

And how did this reach you? Through blood. "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace" (Ephesians 1:7). Do not rush past that. The eternal plan cost the Son his life. What was chosen in the quiet of eternity was purchased on a cross in time. And God has not been stingy in the spending — he "lavished" this grace upon us (Ephesians 1:8), and let us in on the secret of his own heart, "making known to us the mystery of his will" (Ephesians 1:9): that in the fullness of time he means "to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth" (Ephesians 1:10). All the fracture and ruin you see — it is being gathered up and mended in Christ. That is where history is going.

Then I said something I want you to weigh: "In him we have obtained an inheritance" (Ephesians 1:11). You are not an outsider hoping for scraps; you are an heir. And lest you fear the promise might slip through your fingers before the day comes, hear how I closed. "When you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, [you] were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it" (Ephesians 1:13-14). The Spirit within you is God's own down payment, his pledge that he will pay in full.

So here is how you live today, whoever you are as you read this. If your faith is weak and your sins loud, do not look inward for a blessing you cannot find; it is not there, it is in Christ, and it is finished. If you are strong, do not grow proud, for you chose nothing — you were chosen. And whatever the day brings — cold, chains, grief, the slow grind of ordinary trouble — let the first word out of your heart be the one I could not help but write first: blessed be God. Three times in this passage I said it: all of this is "to the praise of his glory" (Ephesians 1:14). Go and live as one who has already been blessed with everything.