Living in the Perfect Will of God

  

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

LIVING IN THE PERFECT WILL OF GOD

Eph 1:3-10

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 to be adopted as his sons 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 And 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 will have reached their fulfillment — to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

NIV

We should explore this idea about God’s will which was once a mystery but is now made known in accordance with His good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ. What could be seen as a bit confusing is that it was to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment. This makes us think that God’s will is still a mystery and we will not be made known of it until some time in the future, but that is not the case. We have to go to the letter that was written to the Colossians in order to make it clear of the meaning of this letter.

Col 1:25-27

25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

NIV

We now can see that the mystery was made known at the time of Christ and that all through the Old Testament this mystery about the Gentiles being able to be grafted into Israel, so to speak, or adopted as sons of God was hidden, but is now made known. It is no longer a mystery that God’s will is to include the Gentiles to be in Christ and have Christ be in them, which is us. We are in the fulfillment of times, in that Christ came for all of His people, whom he made in their image. Although it is true that the people of Israel are His chosen people, the ones He came to, born of a virgin girl who was in Israel, who, in fact, was in the line of David, as was Joseph who married her and became known as an earthy father of Jesus, raising him in his trade of carpentry, although having no genetic connection to Jesus, as Jesus was the Son of God, or we could say God who came in the likeness of man. Nevertheless, this  is the will of God that was made known to his creation, that Christ came for all men, both the Jew and the Gentile. It is also interesting that God did not need to consult anyone or need any foreign aid or counsel for His purposes originated in his own mind and were concealed until he chose to make them known, which He has done in Christ Jesus. Therefore, because we believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we can say that we are living within the perfect will of God.