Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Ephesians 3

The last two verses seem to be fairly popular in evangelical circles today, especially the first half of verse 20. It is often used in contexts where a person or group needs God to do something really big for them. So they quote this verse as a way to build confidence that God can do that thing, or even something bigger. Now of course God is quite capable of doing remarkable things, but I think it's very important that we be very careful not to pull this verse out of its context.

The context for the first half of verse 20 is actually found in the second half of the same verse. If what God does that is abundantly more than we can imagine, is according to the power at work within us, then we must ask, "What does the power at work within us accomplish?" And for that we look back at verses 14-19. I see four things that happen to us when we are strengthened with the power of God through his Spirit:

1) Christ may dwell in our hearts,
2) we may become rooted and grounded in love,
3) we may comprehend the love of Christ, and
4) we may be filled with all the fullness of God.

It's easy to isolate the first part of verse 20, and think that God can give us more money or fame or even more friends than we can even imagine. Certainly he can do that. But I think the four things I listed above were more of what Paul had in mind.

What would it be like for you to ask God to do abundantly more than what you can ask of him, and then ask to be strengthened with power by his Spirit, so that you can be a person rooted in love, have the ability to know and comprehend the love of Christ, and be filled with all his fullness? O that we would desire to petition God for these things!

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