Blessings

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Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. (Ephesians 3-6, NIV)

Anyone who has known me for a while knows I have a pretty huge aversion to name-it-and-claim-it philosophies. I am very sensitive to anything that looks at all like it. Lately I have learned that I might be just a little bit wrong about that.

I still do not believe God is going to give us anything we want if we just find an example of it in the Bible and ask. Yet I have noticed that I need to find some balance. God has shown me that by never expecting blessing or never asking I have been settling for a life that is not abundant. Not to mention I am putting God in a box.

The Scripture above is just one example of the Bible’s assurance that God has chosen us. I was reading it a few nights ago and something jumped out at me:

…in accordance with his pleasure and will

I looked up the word translated ‘pleasure.’ It is eudokia which has a description which includes words such as “satisfaction, delight, kindness, wish, purpose.” God didn’t just choose us, He delighted in choosing us.

If that is the case, it stands to reason that God would want good things for us. I am starting to believe more and more in that promise. So where is the line between the two? I don’t know for sure. This morning I had a thought. Maybe it has something to do with wanting to pick our own blessings rather than believing that God will bring us to abundant life regardless of our circumstances.

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