5  He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8 that he lavished on us.
Ephesians 1:5-7

As a young man I struggled greatly with assurance of God’s love for me. I struggled with assurance of my salvation and my eternal destiny. Then, one day I happened upon these stunning words of the Apostle Paul about how God had set his love on us in ages past, and destined us to be his children through Jesus Christ.

For the first time then I began to understand that before worlds ever began to be, God had wanted you and me to become his adopted children. God the Father so loved, so reveled and delighted in his only Son, that he purposed to fill heaven’s courts with the joy and laughter of many sons and daughters. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that through him we might with him become sons and daughters of God.

In God’s boundless and uncontainable love, he willed to share with us his life and glory through his beloved Son. This is what Paul calls “his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.” These are the extravagant riches  God as “lavished on us” in Christ. God held back nothing, but freely, graciously and prodigiously poured out his very life for us. And it is through the cross, and the cross alone, that God has made us family, and made us even to be “heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17)

All this is ours because “we have redemption through his blood,” and “the forgiveness of our trespasses.” Our hearts then can rest assured: assured of God’s love, and assured of our salvation and eternal destiny. Nothing that happens to you today, or this week, can annul what God began in eternity past.

MEDITATION

Soaking in Scripture…

Today’s Andy Moments…