Ephesians 3:20-21

It is truly amazing how much one can get out of just two verses in the Bible. I enjoyed reading these so much and I often have to remind myself of their implications in my everyday life.

Into: Paul is finishing up his first section in Ephesians, which focuses on Christian doctrine.

Through: In this section, Paul praises God as powerful, "able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think." He proclaims that the glory of God is timeless and given to Him by the church through Jesus Christ.

Beyond: In just these two verses, Paul communicates so much meaningful and amazing truth to us. The first is that God is so good that we cannot fathom it. I like to say that no matter how good I think God is, He is always twice as good as that. The first verse is especially exciting to me because I can know that no matter what I ask God for, He is always able to do "exceedingly, abundantly more" than what I have asked. In my case, I would say that the greatest thing that could happen is my dad coming to know the Lord. That would certainly be awesome and only a result of the work of God; however, God says right here in this verse that he is able to do so much more than "just" save my dad. My mom expressed this revelation to me when she told me she had stopped praying that my dad would be saved and started praying that he would become a "mighty man of God." That is certainly above all I asked or even thought about asking. Yet, the greatness and endlessness of God's goodness is unchanged, and He still promises that He is able to do even more than what my mom dares to ask of Him! This is truly amazing, and I still am unable to fathom the complete extent of the riches of His grace" (v.16). The clause at the end of this verse seems to imply that we have some role n receiving these immense blessings. God will excercise His goodness toward us "according to the power that works within us." Now, I don't know that I am interpreting the following correctly, but from my experience, we are able to suppress that power even as Christians. I do believe that this can only happen for a short time, but neverthless as Christians, when we sin, we are essentially suppressing the power of God and holding it back from being excercised to its fullest extent. I dont want to do that. It doesn't help anyone and it doesn't even turn out to be a positive experience. Not letting the Spirit loose in my life has only gained me depression and purposelessness.

The second verse pretty much sums up what the whole Bible is about, what the prpose for our being is - that God would be glorified. I Corinthians 10:31 says it well too. Whatever we do, the goal should be to glorify God. From the greatest decisions in our lifetime, such as who to marry, or more immediately relevant for me: where to go to college, to the daily routines like eating, waking up, or going to sleep, all should be to the glory of God. Romans 14:23 approaches the issue from another angle, saying that anything without faith is sin, and matthew 22:37 says it in the most radical way I can think of - to love God with all we are: heart, soul, and mind. With every aspect of our personality and character, we seek to please the Lord, and glorify Him.

The last interesting point that Paul makes is his bit about these ideas being stretched into "generations for ever and ever." God's truth is timeless. The principle of loving God and glorifying Him with all we are will never change. There will always be a way to accomplish such a task, and the specific examples of how to do this don't like to change either. For me especially it is keeping myself pure, mind, body, and tongue. I just pray that not too many people are out there in the world claiming to be Christians and actively and habitually denying the power of the Word, and seeking what the world has to offer: impurity, pain, and dirty lips.