Let's continue on in our reading of
Ephesians this morning. I can't wait to see the promises that await
us in these coming verses. I don't know about anyone else, but I find
it so freeing and so rewarding to read this book of the Bible. It's
one of my favorites, I think.
Here are the first few verses:
"That’s why, when I heard of the
solid trust you have in the Master Jesus and your outpouring of love
to all the followers of Jesus, I couldn’t stop thanking God for
you—every time I prayed, I’d think of you and give thanks. But I
do more than thank. I ask—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ,
the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing
him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see
exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of
this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter
extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy,
boundless strength!" (1:15-19)
Let's look at these verses again. When
we show solid trust in Jesus, we have an outpouring of love to other
followers. When we are thanking God for all he has done for us, we
can't help but to feel His joy in our lives.
And look at Paul's prayer for the
Ephesians, for all of us! He is thanking God for us and he asking, on
our behalf that God make us intelligent and discerning in our ability
to know him personally. He asks God himself to give us eyes that are
focused and clear. He asks for us to see clearly what God is doing in
and through our lives. He is asking that we are able to see just how
amazing and glorious this life truly is. He is praying for our
endless energy and boundless strength!
I don't know about you, but I fail in
this department often! I don't pray like this enough. I don't thank
God for each and every opportunity that comes my way and I certainly
don't pray it for my friends and fellow followers of Jesus. I am so
grateful that Paul has demonstrated this for me here so that I can
learn it and embrace it in my own life. Will you join me in thanking
God for one another? In taking off the Negative Nelly glasses and
replacing them with the Jesus glasses?
I'm sure you know that we all filter
our lives through very different sieves. Some of us are positive,
others negative. Some have trauma and abuse in our pasts, others have
the stereotypical "perfect childhood." We all struggle in
different areas and wear glasses that go with those- self pity,
insecurity, fear, worry, pride, people pleasing, etc. There are
glasses for those things too. In this case, the Negative Nelly
glasses are all of those negative emotions that you pile onto every
experience. It's all that negative self talk that goes through your
head as you walk through life. You see the glass half empty. You wait
for the other shoe to drop.
But the Jesus glasses look past all of
that. They see the beauty in the sunrise, not the long drive to work.
They see the blessing that is your baby, not the crying that had you
up all night. They see the privilege of staying home while your
family is working or at school, not the loneliness that might consume
you. Those Jesus glasses make you thankful for everything that
happens all around you because you know that God's greater purpose is
at work. I don't wear them enough, but I'm trying to get better. Will
you?
Let's keep reading:
"All this energy issues from
Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep
heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies
to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not
just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has
the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules
the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the
world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in
which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his
presence." (1:20-23)
I can't tell you what a relief it is to
read those verses. I have never really enjoyed being the one in
charge. I much prefer to let others lead and then lend support where
they need me to give it. And according to this, I don't have to be in
charge. Jesus is already doing it!
But this serves as a great reminder
too. It makes me question, when I decide to do something, am I asking
God if it's the right move each time or just going ahead and doing my
own thing? Am I praying about everything and waiting for him to guide
me or charging ahead and asking God to bless the plans I've already
made? I think it's important to get things done in the right order
here.
Today my prayer is that I can get
better at donning my Jesus glasses and checking in with him
throughout my day. It's my prayer for anyone reading this as well. I
pray that we all get better at this. I pray we all stop finding
everything wrong and start seeing the things that are right. I pray
that we can develop thankful hearts and that we can be constantly
talking to Jesus throughout the day.
Be blessed today and don't forget to be
a blessing!
No comments:
Post a Comment