Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation-having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory. Ephesians 1:3-14 NAS
Do we feel holy and blameless? Do we feel like God’s possession? Do we feel redeemed? Chosen? Do we feel like stewards of the mysteries of God? For most of us the mystery is; if these things are all true, why don’t we feel them?
Feelings are an essential part of being human. However, unless they are understood for what they are, they can be and often are detriments to living by faith. There are a couple of things we need to understand about feelings. First; they do not represent reality. Second; we cannot control them. They simply are. What we must do is to learn to respond to them appropriately and not be ruled by them. Joan Jacobs explains this beautifully in her book: Feelings – Where They Come From and How To Handle Them.
We cannot control feelings but we can control what we think and what we think about. Our passage today is laden with thought-treasures we should bury in our own hearts. If we do, over time, even our feelings will be effected. The Holy Spirit communicates with us in sudden downloads but He also uses His words in the process of living our lives. This is where communion really takes place. Walking in the Spirit is, in large part, learning, in the flow of life, how to distinguish between truth and feelings, then choosing accordingly. This is how we learn to hear God’s voice.
In my battle with chronic back pain, holy and blameless are typically not the first words that come to mind as people inquire as to my well being. In my walk with Christ, pain is the odd servant that reminds me I am always presented with an opportunity and a decision. I can wallow in my discomfort, rehearsing every negative feeling or I can dwell upon the thought–treasures I store in my heart. In this way I can rehearse the reality of my spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
Dead reckoning is a navigational process where one calculates their current position by using previously determined ones known as fixes, and advancing that position based upon known or estimated speeds over an elapsed time. It is a crude process that is subject to cumulative error. I think many of us navigate using a similar process that unfortunately leads us into cumulative death instead of cumulative truth and abundant life. We project where we are going by our feelings, not by the unseen and eternal realities God wants to become our fixes.
In our passage Paul gives us an essential navigational fix; It is our orientation to Jesus Christ. We are in Him. This fix is the single greatest remedy for accumulated spiritual error that I know of. Paul used this phrase ten times in twelve verses. I suspect he learned it in the same way that we will – in the process of living with Christ in us as Lord of our hearts. No doubt Paul once felt strongly about his impecable reputation as a Pharisee or his pedigree as a Benjamite, yet he ultimately reckoned these things to be as dung to him as he discovered the eternal reality of Christ in him. If we listen to Paul’s praises, we see that being in Christ and having Christ in him touched his thinking, and ultimately his feelings in a powerful way.
I believe Paul pioneered Live reckoning, the means of heart navigation we must use in the process of living in Christ. Paul has fixed his mind upon things that are pure, true, lovely and worthy of praise. Have we? If we will choose to, we can accept Christ’s invitation to follow Him by reckoning that our old life is dead, remembering it was buried in Christ, and calculating our current position by using the same fixes used by Paul and advancing our position accordingly. While it too may seem like a crude process it is subject to cumulative accuracy and abundant Life.
Father, thank you that you are our inheritance. Help us to honor you by resting in the reality that we are in you and that you are in us, that you are ours and that we are your inheritance. Thank you that in Christ you have sealed us with your Holy Spirit and that we are holy and blameless in your sight, regardless of how we feel about it. Thank you that you have chosen us before time and blessed us now with every spiritual blessing in heaven in Christ. Thank you that in your kindness you predestined us to know the glorious mystery of your will. Thank you that as time is becoming more full, you are increasingly summing up all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth, which includes us. So be it Lord.