June 01, 2026 | Be Connected
Lavished in God’s Grace
Scripture: Ephesians 1:1-10(NIV)
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
To God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 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. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
Devotional
Ephesians is a short book in the Bible with only six chapters. It is a powerful book in which the main doctrines of Christianity are given by Paul (Guzak; Spurgeon). Paul wrote Ephesians probably around AD 60-62 while imprisoned in Rome (Bible.ref). Even in prison, Paul remained faithful to God and resolute in spreading the word of God and Jesus Christ to all people, Jews and Gentiles, across the world.
In Ephesians 1:1-2, Paul greets the people of Ephesus, bringing them grace and peace from God and Jesus. He then describes the lavish praise that God has given them and us through spiritual blessings in Jesus (Ephesians 1:3). God chose us to be His people before He created the world (Ephesians 1:4). God adopted us to “sonship” because He loves us so much (Ephesians 1:5). God gives us redemption through Jesus’ blood and forgives our sins if we choose to receive Jesus (Ephesians 1:6-8). God promises to bring unity to us in heaven and earth (Ephesians 1:10).
How can we be more holy and honor the amazing spiritual blessings God has given us? One way is to remember the Great Commission, in which Jesus said, “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:18-20).
The thought of God’s magnificent blessings brings to mind wonderful old hymns – “Come Thou Font of Every Blessing,” “Blest Be the Tie that Binds,” and “Blessed Assurance.” And of course, the sweet song that many of us learned as children, “Count Your Blessings” (Johnson Oatman, 1897):
“Count your blessings, name them one by one;
Count your blessings, see what God hath done;
Count your blessings, name them one by one;
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.”
