Today is the Epiphany of our Lord. The selection is from the second lesson for the 2nd Sunday after Christmas.
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, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. ( Ephesians 3-6)
There is so much activity going on in this text...and it is all activity by our God. The writer is praising God for being so "for us" that it appears as though God has been "for us" since the beginning of time. We could spend plenty of time considering the implications of adoption by God but I usually find myself attracted to the two phrases "according to the good pleasure of his will." The adoption of each and everyone of us is because of the "good pleasure" it brings God. It is a part of God's will that we be not abandoned - ever. It is part of God's good pleasure that we be picked up, chosen, deliberately selected by God before we have anything to say about it and, you could say, despite anything we may do or say. God acts...and God acts out of God's love for us.
Connection: It doesn't take much to make a day go sour. What if we would make sure that in each of our days we would take the time to remind ourselves and others that it brings pleasure to our God that we are called God's children...by choice. God is not stuck with us...God longs for us like a parent who embraces a beloved child. That love never goes sour.
Praise be to you O God, for there is no day in which we left to ourselves. You abide with us and the Holy Spirit encourages us to find peace in the blessed assurance that we are your beloved in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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