Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,   

The church in Ephesus was surrounded by various religions and magical practices. As we see reported in Acts these practices were a part of the believers former life as well. Paul’s letter to them begins with this bold statement. He made it clear from the outset that there is no need, and in fact no place for any other religion, or secret knowledge through mysterious rites. There is no need for the favor of principalities and powers, or magical practices. Because, in Christ they have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

In the book of Acts we see that many in the church were still dabbling in magic and it was not until they witnessed a remarkable spiritual event that they finally burned their books on magic. But here Paul is trying to give them a more substantial explanation of why they should give up all these other religions and practices for good.

What strikes me personally about all of this is that then as now, believers are deeply affected by their surroundings and their backgrounds. To break free of a lifetime of habits and the continuous input of lies from their culture was not easy for those believers in Ephesus, nor is it for us now. The truth needed to be established in their hearts as the foundation if they were to stand against this constant pressure, and the same stands true as our only hope today.

But what is this truth? What is this foundation? It is Jesus himself. He alone is the vine, he alone is the source of live. He is our life now. As believers our old life was lost due to sin, our new life is now in him alone. This passage tells us something of this life that gives us the strength to walk away from our old dead life.

In Christ we have been given “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places”.

We live in a world that is constantly bombarding us with frightening information, and bullying us to believe what we are told. And we are told to obey whatever the trend of the month is. How do we stand in faith against this barrage of ever changing so called “truth”? How do we stand in faith when even our own family and friends are pushing us to join the crowd? This is not an easy question, but we must start at the beginning with the actual truth.

Jesus was born, died, resurrected from death, and raised to the right hand of God. Jesus is the king of kings and the lord of lords. No matter what the news tells us. No matter how loud and frightening the world becomes. Earthly kings are a passing wind, Jesus is and will always be, over all creation. Death has been conquered and in Jesus we have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places - forever.

Since Jesus has died and risen we know what he said was true. Therefore we are not without an anchor in this current “passing wind”. We do have an answer to the difficult questions of our time. We can rest in the arms of our good shepherd, and live the eternal life that is ours in Christ.

This week let’s remember where our life really comes from and where it is going, and rest in the love of its source - Jesus.

Have a great week!