Every Spiritual Blessing | Morning Routine for October 20

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.  —Ephesians 1:3–4 (ESV)

The Apostle Paul launches into his letter to the Ephesians with one long sentence in the original—spanning verses 3 through 14. In it, he praises God for all the spiritual blessings He has given to believers. 

Today’s text is the beginning of that long sentence which summarizes what follows when Paul says that God ‘has blesses us in Christ with every spiritual blessing’. In the verses that follow, these blessings include:

• Being chosen by God to be holy and blameless
• Being adopted as a child of God
• Redemption through the blood of Christ
• Forgiveness of our trespasses
• Being lavished with the riches of God’s grace, including knowledge of the gospel
• A future, heavenly inheritance
• The seal of the Holy Spirit, a ‘guarantee’ of our inheritance.

Along the way, Paul also describes God’s affections for us in giving these blessings with phrases like ‘in love’, ‘the kind intention of His will’, and ‘grace’ that He ‘freely bestowed’. Contrast this with how Paul describes us apart from Christ in chapter two: ‘dead’ in our ‘trespasses and sins’! Wow! It’s no wonder that Paul praises God, as should we. 

As a whole, this passage gives us a vision of God working out his plan of salvation from eternity past to eternity future. And that eternal plan includes you! As a Christian, take stock of your eternal blessings and live as one ‘lavished’ with the riches of God’s grace! This week, also look for an opportunity to share this message of salvation’s blessings with another person!