I think that often my perception of life is too small. I tend to focus on tomorrow, which is wrong because there may be no tomorrow to worry about or in which to celebrate. Or sometimes I focus on the past which is gone—my sins forgiven, my obediences to God stored in heaven for an eternal reward. But where I often fail to focus is on eternity, on heaven, which will be the majority—the vast majority—of my existence.
What activity is it that you really don’t like? For me, one of those things is going to the dentist. I spent six years in braces, going to the orthodontist every six weeks, each visit resulting in weeks of pain and discomfort from the tightened braces. So, for me, visions of dental work are just . . . well, not pleasant. But I know that going to the dentist is important for my overall health, so I endure through the time, knowing that something better awaits me after that visit.
We should actually look at life more like that. This earthly life, in comparison to eternity, is a hiccup (and who can’t endure a hiccup, however painful). And the life that will be “forever” is eternity in heaven with our Father. Thus, when we want—even insist—on having our blessings here in this life (usually to somehow ease the pain of living here), we are focusing on a small moment in time, wanting to store our treasures there, instead of where we can enjoy them forever. The Lord Jesus taught us about this:
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21 NKJV).
So when Paul writes that Father God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, we should rejoice! We are getting ready for a marvelous trip, a trip which will never end. And, as an added bonus, our Father is blessing us with all sorts of spiritual blessings that we will enjoy once we begin that trip. Whether or not our time here on earth is easy or happy, we have the most marvelous time awaiting us in heaven. That should make every pain, every sorrow, every burden seem unimportant when compared to what awaits us as soon as our journey here is done. Father God loves us so much that He has reserved the best blessings for us at a time when we won’t ever lose them, when the blessings won’t fade or drift away.
When God blesses us now, often those blesses are temporal, for a time. They meet the needs of our lives for a season and then our circumstances change and the blessing may not meet our current needs. But the blessings that await us are forever, stored in the heavenly places in Christ! Our Savior Himself is guarding and protecting those blessings, not only in anticipation of the time that we get to heaven, but forever. These are blessings that will last.
Paul enumerates part of those blessings in this passage:
• We are adopted as children of God, chosen before the beginning of the world, predestined to be saved because God saw that we would respond to His offer of salvation
Adoption has a special meaning to me because I’m adopted. I was the baby of an unwed teen mom who very courageously gave me to two married people who were wonderful parents to me. I went from a very difficult situation into an almost perfect family. And God knew. God knew before I was conceived that my mom and dad couldn’t have kids of their own blood. God knew that they would love me, nurture me, and protect me during my growing up years. He knew that they would teach me about His love. He gave me to them and they adopted me.
God also has adopted me! I was always His creation and He was always my Creator, but there was a gap between us, a gap of sin caused by my own sinful nature. I could be nothing more than His creation and He could be to me nothing more than Creator because of that gap. But the Lord Jesus, giving up His precious life, took the punishment for my sin (and for the sins of all the world), and offered me the opportunity to become adopted. And now, while I am creation and God is Creator, that gap between us is gone. I am now His child and He is my Father!
• We stand holy and without blame before Him, drenched in His love
The Greek translated here “in love” actually means that we are inside His love. Our position is in His love. We stand holy and without blame before the Creator and Judge of the universe because we are positioned inside the love of our Savior.
The word “holy” doesn’t have anything to do with behavior, but has to do with where we are spiritually. We are separated away from sin because we are positioned in Christ’s love. God is holy because sin cannot be in Him. Sin can’t have anything to do with God. And now, because we are positioned in Christ, we are separated from sin. That is why we are without blame, not because of anything we’ve done, but because of everything He’s done.
• Doing this pleased God. It was what He wanted to do.
Aren’t you glad that God wanted to save us? He isn’t a vengeful God, standing far off in heaven, shaking His finger at us because we sinned again. Rather, He came to earth, became a man, and died, taking our punishment, so that we could stand blameless, positioned in the love of Christ.
• His grace made us accepted because we stand in Christ
Grace is an interesting word because it is interactive. Strong’s defines grace as “the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life” (G5485). Grace influences our hearts, but we must reflect that influence in our thoughts, in our actions, in what we do and say.
While these blessings are, in part, active in our lives here on earth, they are permanent blessings that we will receive fully once we step into heaven. They are everlasting blessings that will never be taken away, that will never fade, that will never change. Oh, how grateful I am that God was willing to move from Creator to Savior, that He adopted me so that I could change from creation to child!
© 2012 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.
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