Ephesians 1:3-6
How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
When the time came for my high school class to celebrate a 20-year reunion, two other classmates and I did most of the planning. We didn’t mind… it was fun! We were excited about seeing everyone again, and we eagerly arranged for a venue, food, entertainment, decorations, and more. We contacted classmates and gathered “where-have-you-been-for-twenty-years” information to compile into a booklet. We collected old photos and enhanced the memory book with fun pictures of class members in poses from our childhood. We worked for almost a year to create this party, which lasted only a few hours one Saturday evening.
As the date for our reunion neared, we grew even more excited about making sure everyone had a good time... ensuring that each attendee got plenty of food, some take-home souvenirs, and plenty of memories. Outside of the small circle of us who had directly planned the event, none of the classmates knew what to expect. And when they arrived, I’m fairly confident that everyone had a great time.
The event was fun. But I must admit, those of us who did the planning experienced something of a let-down. The classmates didn’t respond as we had hoped. Some were appreciative of our efforts. Others acted as if they wished they were somewhere else. In the end, we all vowed we would never plan another class reunion! Actually, I think we were all just a little bit glad to go back to our “regular” lives the next day and forget about the party.
I don’t regret working so hard on this reunion, but I do recognize that often we are more excited about the planning and preparation… the anticipation… than we are the actual series of events. Think about Christmas morning, when all of the gifts are open, the meal is eaten, and you are left with a pile of wrapping paper, leftovers, and sleepy guests! We still decorate, purchase gifts, cook and plan all over again the next Christmas… but sometimes, the greatest joy was in the planning.
Paul tells us in this letter to the Ephesians how lovingly God planned for each of us… how He anticipated so much… planned for our bright futures, and lavished love and attention on every detail. But God also instilled free will in each of us - the ultimate gift of love - and we are not always good stewards of this gift. So often, we are the “after-Christmas-Day” to God’s great plan… we are ungrateful, lazy, or downright rebellious. It’s enough to make God say, “That’s it! I love So-and-So… but I’m never doing anything nice for him/her again!”
I’m glad that God does not react to us in precisely this way… although I do think there are times He must surely temper His blessings according to how we are behaving. But the point is that we serve a God who gives great gifts… who loves us far beyond what we could ever imagine – much less deserve. And for this we should be eternally grateful and filled with praise. We should “make the Christmas party or class reunion last forever,” so to speak…with our service, obedience, and loyalty to Him. We should live in such a way that says to everyone we meet… “I am a child of God… blessed beyond measure, designed and carefully planned, wonderfully made, and loved unconditionally… and I am incredibly grateful! I want to celebrate each and every day in God’s honor!”
What does your attitude reflect? How are you behaving toward the God who has given you everything… planned for your life for eons…and lavished His amazing and unending love upon you? Do you need to make a change in how you treat Him today? Isn’t this the perfect time to recognize how blessed you are… and start living accordingly? Will today be the day you truly “get the party started”… and keep it rolling?
©2012 Debbie Robus
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