Ephesians

Ephesians 1:3-14 is the longest sentence in the whole New Testament. It’s just phrase after phrase of pure excitement about all that God has given us. Paul is so excited that he didn’t even have time for punctuation. This theology-packed run-on sentence can be summed up like this: “Praise God because we are blessed beyond belief.” Let’s break down three blessings from Christ that have the power to change our lives.

Jesus, rich in love, didn’t just take us from good to bad. Jesus supernaturally took us from death to life. He raised you from the dead. This is so much more than good news. This is the gospel! It’s the kind of news we want to shout from the rooftops, share with everyone we know, and reflect on every single day. As we often say, salvation is cause for celebration.

The Apostle Paul wrote this letter to his Christian family in a Greco-Roman city that loved the arts, theater, and the power of the mind. Ephesian citizens who followed famous Greek teachers saw their imagination as something to be celebrated, but Paul wanted them to know that God had something even better in store. Our God both exalts imagination and wants to expand it.