::::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, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. in love He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth.
in Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory.::::
ephesians1:3-14
so, this passage is far too rich and wonderful for me to ever grasp the words. i keep reading it over and over. '...to the praise of His glorious grace...to the praise of His glory...to the praise of His glory.' all things are meant and purposed to the praise of His glorious, wonderful, amazing, undeserved, and all covering grace. Jesus our Christ submitted himself to death, even death on a cross in order that we may get close to the Father without the wrath of Him completely destroying us. recently the subject has come up of scaring people with hell so that they turn to Jesus - a 'tactic' for 'converts' that is a mistaken form of love or care for another human being's eternity. i don't need hell to scare me into the arms of Jesus and His blood. the terror of provoking the wrath of the all powerful Creator of the universe and of all things known and unknown is enough - don't you think? but wait...that God, that Creator that can create this fear and chill to my bones because i know what my sin deserves...THAT GOD...He is the one that 'in love...predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace. to be overwhelmed by the grace of God is an understatement. the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. when you understand the power of our God, (here is an off topic rant: 'power of our God' sounds so stupid to me now. He doesn't just have power and He isn't just powerful. He is power. He just is. God is God. to describe Him with our meager words is so hard. nothing works. so just know that the whole time i put words to God i cringe with how unacceptable the words are.) and you begin to see your sin in the light of His glory and perfection, and you see how ugly your sin is, and you know how God feels about sin, and you realize you are a tiny little being that walks in the fingerprints of this amazing God, and you begin to see that your sin deserves wrath from this God that created all things, and you start to understand the fear of God, and then you see that Christ Jesus our Savior was sent by the Father in order that His perfect blood would be shed for no other reason than to the praise of His glorious grace, that we might continue to walk in the hands of this almighty God without being crushed because He looks down upon us through a love that conquers all fear.....then how can you not praise His glorious grace.
this song never gets old. ever.
O My Soul! How He loves! <---clicko
