“Checking up on our bank account”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Wednesday, November 23, 2022
Ephesians 1:3-14 (Forward, p. 25) CEV p. 1222
Something that I am incredibly and habitually tardy about is checking up on my monthly bank statements. That means that I am often in the dark, both about expenditures and income, that have transpired over the previous thirty days. For instance, I had no clue that there was ‘supposed’ to be a one-time Covid payment to seniors until someone tipped me off about it. (In fact, I am still not sure whether I received it or not, which just goes to show just how negligent I am about checking up on such things!)
In today’s passage, the apostle Paul talks the riches that are ours through Jesus Christ, only they aren’t the kind of riches that you will find recorded in any bankbook or bank statement. Rather, they are riches of a spiritual kind:
a) Being chosen
-before the world was created we were chosen to live with Christ
-we were chosen to be God’s holy, innocent & loving people
-we were chosen to be God’s own adopted children
b) Being redeemed
-Christ sacrificed His life blood to set us free, so our sins would be forgiven
c) Being reassured
-God has shown us His own mysterious ways
-when the time is right, God will fulfil all that is promised and Christ will bring together everything in heaven and on earth
-the Jews would bring honour to Him and be the first ones to have hope, because of Christ
-the Gentiles were given the promised Holy Spirit as a pledge and a surety that they belong to God, a kind of down payment of what God has stored up for His people.
These blessings constitute a past, present and future kind of thing, a precious gift given to us freely by God, given freely and without any thought of our having had to earn it or merit it in any way. And so, it is more than right and good, more than proper, that we should always honour Him with our lives and continually render to Him our thanksgiving and praise. Amen.
Forward notes: “He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved” (verses 5-6).
“Over the centuries, the concept of adoption has been fraught with the notion of scandal, secrets, the unknown. At times, adopted or single-parent children were assigned illegitimate status. They were often seen as the result of someone’s mistake or shortcoming. They were whispered or speculated about at family gatherings, and when it came time for the passing on of the family estate, their claim to the legacy was often contested. But today’s passage redeems the notion of what it means to be adopted. The apostle Paul reminds us that we are all adopted. Christ offers all of us a legacy free from scandal, both of our own making and that of others. He gives us a name and an inheritance and makes us a part of the family story.:
“By the good pleasure of his will, adoption is a testimony of Christ’s grace and love. Thanks be to God.”
Moving Forward: “What does it mean to you to be adopted by Christ?”