Parables from Ephesians 1 ~ Part One

Ephesians is one of my favorite books in the New Testament. This book gives me such a passion for life. Especially for living for God. His character and love is shown so many times throughout this book, that it is important to focus on. I'm going to share with you a few insights that I have gathered from Ephesians 1 alone.

Upon reading the beginning of Ephesians 1 for the first time, depending on what version of the Bible you read, it can be pretty confusing. Since Paul writes in run-on sentences a lot of the time, it can be hard to follow him at times. I spent a lot of time in the first paragraph and managed to sum it all up in a few complete sentences:

Ephesians 1:3-10 ~ Blessed be the God that blessed us[v3]. This God chose us before he even created the world. He chose us for the job of being holy and blameless before Him [v4]. He purposed for Christ to shed His blood for us [v5], and through the death of Christ, blessed us with His grace [v6]. Because of this grace, He forgives us through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ [v7]. This grace has also been lavished upon us even while He had all the wisdom about us and knew the decisions we'd ever make [v8]. He lets us know about His will for us [v9], which is to eventually unite everyone and everything according to His Name [v10].

I think it's important to see the nature of God in this passage of Scripture. I've listed a few:

1) God BLESSED us. [He obviously cares about us]

2) He wants us to represent Him as HOLY and BLAMELESS. [He is Holy]

3) He sent His Son to die to BENEFIT us. [He is giving]

4) God gives us GRACE. [He is merciful]

5) He FORGIVES us of all our wrongdoing. [He is forgiving]

6) He knew EVERYTHING we would ever do to wrong Him. [He is all-knowing]

7) He COMMUNICATES with us. [He knows us]

8) He is POWERFUL. [He can do anything]

All of these statements really describe God's love for us. He really loves us. He loves us enough to care about us, give us a holy example to follow, give us grace and mercy that we don't deserve, forgive us when we hurt Him, communicate with us, AND to top it all off, He can do anything else we ask if He wants to! Do you know anyone else that can offer this abounding heap of love for you? I'm pretty sure God is the only one around that fits these characteristics. And look, all this encouraging stuff just in the first paragraph of Ephesians 1!