Before we look at the blessings God has given us, Paul the apostle blesses God, or praises God, by saying, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" ( See 1:3a )
The word blessed there, means, to be well spoken of, or to be praised. What Paul is doing here, is to say, Praise God because of all the blessings He has given us etc.
It is interesting, that Paul mentions God as being the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not sure why he does this ( and he does it often ), but, one thing that comes to my mind, is that it places the focus on, or reminds us of the fact that God gave His Son for us. He sent Jesus to die for our sins, and to save us from wrath, and to give us eternal life, and to take us to heaven, etc, etc, etc.
Then, Paul states that God has blessed us. The idea behind the word "blessed" here, is that of God bestowing a blessing on us, giving us favor, causing us to prosper. He has Paul says, blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. ( See 1:3b ) Now, what does this mean? The heavenly places in Christ?
Well, first of all, where is Jesus today? He is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven. And, where are Christians located as it were? We are in Christ, placed there by the Holy Spirit upon our being saved by God. This is not easy to simply understand. It's not impossible to understand, it's just that it's not the normal kind of thing or way we would describe ourselves, that is, as being in something, or someone, or somewhere etc.
But, nevertheless, that's where we are. We as Christians, are in our Lord Jesus. We are part of His body, and thus we have these spiritual blessings, in heavenly places. You could say we are right there in heaven with Jesus. Sounds odd, but, it's true, and it won't be until we leave this earth that we will realize and experience it fully. But, we are in Christ, and he is seated at the right hand of the Father. And we have these blessings in Him, in these heavenly places.
Ok so much for that. Now onto the blessings.
The first one listed here is that "He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,"
This choice by God was made even before the world was created. Imagine that. Nothing existed, that is, nothing of the world we know, and yet, God the Father chose us to be in Christ etc.
I'm so glad God made this choice. I thank Him for making this choice.
The word "chose" or choose out, make choice, means to pick out, or to choose for oneself, like when Jesus chose His disciples etc. God simply, and wonderfully chose us to be in Christ. This is what God did, wanted to do, wound up doing, and it's who we are today as a result of that choice. We are in Christ.
The rest of the verse, further explains the blessing of this choice by God for us. "That we should be holy and without blame before Him in love" To be holy, means, to be set apart to God for His exclusive use. And, to be without blame is not to hard to understand. We are those in whom there is no blame.
The word blame, here, means, without blame, or unblameable, without spot, faultless, without fault. Without blemish, faultless. Can you believe it. Wow.
How wonderful this is. This is who we are at this moment. We are ( as far as God is concerned before Him, without fault ) That is who we are, and that is how He sees us.
It's not how we see ourselves, but we should. Because it's how He sees us. This glorious truth, makes me want to explode with praise. I can hardly believe it. This blessing, strikes me deep within my heart and mind, and lifts my soul up in joy and happiness and peace.
Well, that's certainly enough to chew on, and to think about, and to enjoy for one day. I do pray that today, you might let this truth sink deep within you, and bless you. You are without fault before Him in Christ.
Blessings to you today.
Pastor Bob Grenier.
