Greetings in Christ,
“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 should be holy and blameless before Him.” Ephesians 1:3
It sometimes is hard to imagine just how far back in time God has prepared for us to be one with Him. Paul writes the previous words in the letter to Ephesus telling them about God’s plan for holiness for His creation. It is the reflection of creation as God was forming the earth, creating the vegetation, and creating the animals, and finally creating man and woman. Every time God was done with one part of the creation He paused and looked at it and it was good. There was nothing about what God had done which did not please Him—it was holy and blameless.
The concept of being holy and blameless goes along with the thought of being totally open with God with nothing to hide from Him. Once Adam and Eve had eaten the apple from the tree of life they had to hide from God. Their innocence was gone as they tried to cover their nakedness as they stood before God. They were not holy and blameless.
God from the very beginning of time has only wanted us to be holy and blameless before Him, but as mankind thinks for himself the more mankind wanders away from this simple concept.
God has only wanted us to walk through the garden with Him sharing all the details of our lives whether they are small or large, simple or complex, personal or corporate, or just plain everything we do as we walk in this life. We sometimes want to deal with those things in our life by thinking for ourselves, and acting on those thoughts, but sometimes our thoughts and actions get us into trouble. We begin to cover up and hide those areas of our lives we find exposed, and we are ashamed of the exposure. The more we become ashamed the more we pile on to cover the exposure and before long we are weighed down with a burden of trying to compensate for the overload.
God is not looking for this to happen with us, but rather just be willing to shed the first layer of cover before it gets too heavy to carry. We are better off to just realize no matter how hard we think we need to protect ourselves we are just delaying the most important part of our lives—being a part of God.
All God wants is for us to be holy and blameless before Him; just as He designed for us to operate from the very beginning. There is not more refreshing way to enjoy life than to walk with God on a daily basis.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever.” Psalms 111:10
“Light arises in the darkness for the upright; He is gracious and compassionate and righteous.” Psalms 112:4
“From the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the Lord is to be praised.” Psalms 113:3
“I will praise the Lord while I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.” Psalms 146:2
“Great is our Lord, and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite.” Psalms 147:5
Lord may we be holy and blameless before You. May we share all the details of our lives with You. Amen.
Blessings,
Mark Johnson