MONDAY 16th
Ephesians 1:3
NIV (v3) – ‘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.’
ESV (v3) – ‘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 . . .’
This is an amazing verse of Scripture because it reminds those of us who are believers today that we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing as a result of our coming to faith or of our believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. As we consider the many blessings, of which Paul mentions some of them in the following verses (4-14) we should be returning to God with praise and adoration, not to mention with hearts full of gratitude as well. The ESV says ‘Blessed be’, the NIV ‘Praise be’ both are saying one and the same thing – Bless the Lord, praise the Lord God because of the multitude of blessings we have received from him through our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Psalm 103 says ‘Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.’
Remember the chorus, Bless the Lord, O my soul . . . and all that is within me bless his holy Name. Why bless the Lord, well in the words of one of the hymns because ‘I have tried to count his blessings, and I fail to understand, why the Lord should so richly reward; could I count the stars of heaven, add to them earth’s grains of sand, still His blessings are more, praise the Lord! And the end is not yet, praise the Lord!
What a way to start a letter, to be reminded of the manifold blessings of God, which are ours because of our relationship to him through the Lord Jesus Christ.
‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,’ Paul uses a similar phrase in another of his letters, 2 Corinthians 1:3 ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.’ and Peter also in 1 Peter 1:3 ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead . . .’
We have an incident in the gospels of the time when ten lepers came to Jesus to request healing, and he cleansed them all, it continues to say that only one of them came back to Jesus to give thanks. (You can read it in Luke 17:11-19) They all wanted, they all received, but only one, that was ten percent returned to give thanks, I guess we can all remember when we were growing up as children being told by our parents to say ‘thank you’, and then we ourselves have instilled into our own children as they were growing up. ‘Don’t forget to say thank you’, ‘did you say thank you’, may I give us all a gentle nudge today, to remember to say ‘thank you’ to our Heavenly Father who has blessed us with so much through his Son, our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Give thanks from a grateful heart.