Amazing Grace
Ephesians 1: 6-7 NKJV
6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace
The letter to the Ephesians has got to be one of the most power-packed of all Paul’s letters. Chapter one starts out with the usual greetings and then erupts with verse after verse of revelation. We could literally take this chapter and go verse by verse and spend weeks. We won’t, but the potential is there. The first chapter spells out some of the wonderful benefits that belong to us in Christ. The gift of the Holy Spirit seals the believer at the new birth. One of the most insightful prayers in the Bible and the place of Jesus as the head of the church. In terms of revelation, this chapter is one of the strongest in the New Testament.
For the sake of time, we are looking today at two verses that speak to the grace of God. Verse six references the glory of God’s grace, and verse seven the riches of God’s grace. Both phrases are easy to skip over as Bible speak, but both phrases tell us a lot and do great things for us.
To the praise of the glory of His grace. I am sure I do not fully comprehend what Paul is saying here by inspiration from the Holy Spirit. In Christ, the beloved, God made us accepted. One translation said God makes us highly favored in Christ. People chuckle when I speak of being one of God’s favorites, but I don’t know that we even come close to the glory of what God’s grace has done for us in Christ. Grace is the favor and power of God on our behalf. Without us ever earning a thing, God made us accepted and highly favored when we made Jesus our Lord. The moment we received Him,we stepped into the grace of God.
The glory of His grace. If you look up the word glory, the definition can be extensive. Glory is the excellence and honor in the divine nature of God. I realize that does not help much, but glory is worth studying for those of you who like to dive into word studies. God’s grace toward us is excellent and honorable and full of the nature of God. When we see Him in heaven, we will see His glory, and it will be awesome. Until then, we can rest assured knowing that God’s grace that united us with Christ is excellent and honorable above anything man has ever created.
And don’t forget that we have been redeemed, purchased through the blood of Jesus, so that our sins are forgiven according to the riches of God’s grace. Ever thought about how rich, how abundant God’s grace is toward us? I am thinking that heaven will be a revelation as to what was available to us because of the abundance of God’s favor and power toward us in Christ Jesus. I want to receive all that I can from the riches of His grace. You have heard of the business term leaving money on the table. That would indicate that more could have been received from a business transaction. I don’t want to leave God’s grace on the table. I want to be able to receive all that God has for me in Christ. That may be considered too lofty of a goal, but I would rather shoot high and fall short than shoot low and make it.
Prayer
So here is a good prayer. Heavenly Father, please show me more of the glorious riches of Your grace. You have made Your grace available to me in Christ, and I do not want to miss out.