The Biggest Blessing Out There

“Blessed and worthy of praise be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ, just as [in His love] He chose us in Christ [actually selected us for Himself as His own] before the foundation of the world, so that we would be holy [that is, consecrated, set apart for Him, purpose-driven] and blameless in His sight.” (Ephesians 1:3-4, AMP)

The Book of Ephesians is one of the most beautiful letters Paul writes to the church. It’s a favorite among many, including myself, and Ephesians 1 is the overture that sets the tone to this awe-inspiring encouragement to the church. 

Within chapter 1, verses 3 through 14 is a dense preamble that touches upon things like grace, adoption, inheritance, blessing, redemption, glory to God, and truth. There is too much to say about it in one devotion, and if we did, we could be here for weeks and weeks on that passage alone.

But today, when I read these words, I am blown away by the deep maturity of faith within Paul to even have thought these ideas, let alone put them into words this way. He begins by stating “Blessed and worthy of praise is the God and Father…” That’s something we can all easily agree with. Our God is worthy of every praise we can give. He chased after us when we made ourselves inaccessible in our sin. He made a way for us to have salvation generations before we would be born. 

Paul goes on to say that God is worthy of blessing and praise because he has already blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. Now a lot of us might read this and say, “Glory! Hallelujah! I love me some blessings!” How many of us praise God that much harder when we get something we’ve been praying on for a long time? 

The answer, in truth, is all of us. Even me. But Paul isn’t talking about a house, a partner, a job opportunity, a boat, a child, or any other temporal– and ultimately momentary– material prayer request we make. He’s talking about eternal blessings. And here’s the mark of a mature Christian: someone who sees all their blessings before them and counts the spiritual ones as more valuable and worthy of praise than the temporal ones. Yes, it is nice to have nice things and be blessed with life’s milestones. There is no denying that.

But do we see our spiritual blessings– salvation, redemption, forgiveness of sins under the blood of Christ, eternal life, a relationship with God the Father, reconciliation with His presence– as more valuable than anything else we could be given on earth?

To me, Charles Spurgeon says it best. “Our thanks are due to God for all temporal blessings; they are more than we deserve. But our thanks ought to go to God in thunders of hallelujahs for spiritual blessings. A new heart is better than a new coat. To feed on Christ is better than to have the best earthly food. To be an heir of God is better than being the heir of the greatest nobleman. To have God for our portion is blessed, infinitely more blessed than to own broad acres of land. God hath blessed us with spiritual blessings. These are the rarest, the richest, the most enduring of all blessings; they are priceless in value.”

And continuing in that thought-vein, Paul continues on by saying that just as we have certainty and sureties that God has given us spiritual blessings, we can be just as sure that God has chosen us to partake in them. 

But when were we chosen? Was it when we performed good works in Jesus’ name? Was it when we decided to turn to him in the moment of salvation? Was it at our conception? No. It was way before any of that. It was at the foundation of the earth that you were chosen as someone that God would make His own. 

What does that say to me? It says that there is nothing I could have ever done. No amount of works or successes, no amount of striving or struggling; there was never any power in anything I could ever say or do or be that would have changed the fact that God chose me to have salvation.

And that’s a controversial thought. It’s uncomfortable for people to accept because they immediately think, well if I was chosen, then that means that someone else wasn’t, and how can a good God allow for that?

Ultimately, I have to accept that there are some things I will never ever know until the day I sit before Jesus. But I do know that, clear as day, the Bible states that we can be sure that God has chosen the ones who follow Him. And that means there is no chance that I could have messed up so badly that God could renege on that and there is nothing I could do to deviate from being among the body of Christ. 

I know, if you’re reading this, you have a deep desire to know God and know His Word. The very fact that you are taking the time to try and understand means that you are trying to study and discover more of God and who He is. It means that there is a tug of belief in your heart to know the Savior and be closer to Him. And the simple act of knowing you are chosen by a loving God who desired to save you at the very foundation of the world is the deepest spiritual blessing you could ever receive.

If you believe and confess God as Lord, if you aspire to holiness and righteousness above all else, then you were always meant and destined to be here. You are loved. You are valued. And you are worth dying for.