What do you think of when you hear the word eulogy? For most of us, it probably involves a funeral and a minister. But the word “eulogy” comes from the same Greek word that is translated here “Blessed.” This actually makes sense: a eulogy is simply someone describing the things someone has done in their life, and praising them – calling them “blessed” for having done well. For some people… this may take a little work. For others, though, the hard part is knowing what to leave out! For those people – where do you start? They radiated joy, they smiled constantly, laughed loudly and unashamedly. They loved without reservation, and the world was better because they lived. When friends and family give eulogies for people like that, they can’t say enough. They gush!
So it is here. Ephesians 1:3-14 has a ton of ideas – ideas that will be fleshed out in the coming chapters – but in the original Greek, verses 3-14 are one long sentence. In describing the incredible love and grace God has shown us, in reminding us just how much God has done for us as believers, Paul is just… gushing!
Do you gush over what God has done for you? For many of us, especially those of us who have been believers for a while, maybe even grown up in church – we don’t really gush. One day – maybe at camp – you responded to an altar call or something similar and that was that. You got saved. It seemed like nothing changed dramatically because you weren’t that bad a kid to begin with. We don’t gush, because we don’t think it’s really all that interesting or dramatic.
But it was dramatic. And Paul wants us to understand just how much was involved in that seemingly-small event. Look at how Paul describes what God has done for us:
God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing… (vs 3)
God chose us before the foundations of the world to be holy and blameless before Him (vs 4).
But Paul isn’t through – his sentence is not yet complete! There’s more. God is not done with us when we walk that aisle, pray the prayer, or come up out of the water. All these things are only the beginning. And as proof that He will finish the redemption project He’s begun in us (Phil 1:6), God has given us His Spirit as a deposit, a down payment on the finished project yet to be revealed (vs 11-14).
God began His work of adopting you before you were even born, and He has literally moved heaven and earth to redeem you, to show you His love for you, and to bring you into His family. What God has done for us, what He is doing in us, and what He has planned for us is truly, dramatically, incredible.
Is that worth gushing over?
Going Further:
- Go back and read again each line of vs 3-14 again. What does each one tell you about what God has done for you?
- How does it make you feel that the God who created the Universe and who is everywhere has adopted you as His child? What would it feel like to truly know that you will never be forgotten, abandoned, unloved… alone?
- Think about the plans, hopes and dreams most loving parents have for their kids. As a believer in Christ, Paul says that the sovereign God of the universe has loved you and adopted you – what kind of plans, hopes and dreams might He have for you?
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