From Richard

A study on Ephesians 1: 3

WEEK 1

Thank God

Praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Ephesians 1: 3

We are going to look at this verse over the next three weeks. In order to find treasure – we need to dig. This takes a bit of time and it can be hard work – but it’s worth it for the treasure.

This verse has sometimes been described as the triple blessing: we bless God who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing.

Now when we bless God this is not the same as God blessing us. We sing: “Bless the Lord oh my soul”. So what do we mean? When God blesses us he freely bestows his good gifts on us through Jesus. When we bless God it means we speak well of him, praise him for who he is and what he has done, is doing and will do. We give back to God our time, talent and treasure.

And we can’t bless God as he blesses us – because there is nothing we can give God because he already has everything. So what we do is to praise him and we give back to God our time, talent and treasure.

Years ago I went to a wedding reception and as we arrived we bumped into the groom who was beaming from ear to ear – and he marvelled: “Isn’t God great!”

When we see something wonderful – we naturally want to share it. We see a beautiful sunset; so we point it out to our friends, exclaiming its beauty. Or we are watching a football match and see exquisite skill – we smile and say “wow”, enjoying it with everyone else. Have you seen the Queen and Paddington Bear video for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee – and seen how moving it is? So many times I have said this to people because I naturally want to share the experience.  

So – we experience these things and then share the enjoyment of those experiences with others.

So how can we have a greater experience of Jesus – so that we would share with people the joy of knowing and experiencing him?


Category: The Bridge , Thought for the week