In a world divided by competing strategies, God offers just one plan
By Dean Collins
There is a lot of divide and conquer going on in the current moment. It’s a strategy as old as time. This approach might be good for breaking down complex math problems into solvable parts, but it has limitations when it comes to human flourishing. It seems that division and divisiveness have been an issue since the first deception of the Garden of Eden. And while every party, group, and persuasion suggests that their plan will bring fairness and unity, I am having a hard time finding where this is true and sustainable.
The good news is that God has a plan and is working his plan. In fact, each of us has a role and purpose in his grand plan. In the first chapter of Ephesians Paul gives a broad summary and description of the mystery of God that he has made known to us. Paul’s words are great poetry and rich in theology.
All people
In the first-century church, one of the great obstacles Paul and others sought to address is that Jesus came for all people. Both the Jewish people and the non-Jewish people (Gentiles) knew the centuries-long teaching of the Jewish people as the chosen people of God. Imagine, then, the difficulty in understanding that Jesus died for all and not just for his chosen people.
Beset as we are with the numerous divisions of people in today’s world, we don’t think so much about one dying for everyone in the world. We are divided in so many ways it is hard even to list them all. I suspect that nearly all the groups dividing us suggest that their truth or plan is actually the one that will unite us. Yet time and time again we discover that no human intervention can accomplish the unity and the community that we long for so earnestly.
Unearned blessing
In the first chapter of Ephesians, Paul reminds us that God is not passive and is fully executing his plan to unite all things in Heaven and on earth (verse 10). To understand we must back up and receive the blessing the great apostle prayed over us beginning in verse 3 where Paul declared that God has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the Heavenly places. I’ve not yet lived in the Heavenly places, and it is overwhelming to consider that every blessing that is contained in eternity is ours in Christ.
The blessing is ours not because we are good enough, smart enough, or right enough. The blessing is ours because we are chosen. God chose us to be a part of his family, his story, and his eternal kingdom. Paul explains that we are not a second thought but are a result of the plan God has been executing all along. The enemy of God may have succeeded in tempting Adam and Eve and us to consider another path, but the grace of God has won the battle and made possible the unity of all things.
One plan
It is important to remember that even as we use logic, make argument, and hope for human intervention to the problems caused by hatred and violence, the only lasting and permanent solutions are the eternal solutions that come because in the fullness of time God sent Jesus to die for our sins and eventually to restore all things when he comes in glory.
It is, as Paul said, the mystery of God’s will, and this mystery is being executed according to God’s plan. There is no randomness in what God is doing, though from this side we may sometimes fail to see it. Paul calls us to remember and know that God is with us and we are a part of his kingdom doing the work of renewal and restoration even now.
So turn off the news of the day for a few minutes and read the first chapter of Ephesians to embrace the magnitude of God’s grace and breathe in the fullness of his plan for you and for all of us.
Your time with God’s Word
Ephesians 1:3-23 ESV
Photo by Aleksandar Pavlovic at Unsplash.com
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