Thursday 3 June, 2021

7 I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. 8 Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, 9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. 10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. 13 I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.

What a beautiful description by Paul. The idea that he was so thankful for
being able to share the inexhaustible treasures and generosity of Christ and
the amazing wisdom of God. That God organised things to create a way for
each of us to come boldly and confidently into His presence.

Each of us needs to open our own eyes to this picture. That Jesus gave
Himself in love for each of us and that we have access to that grace, that
generosity, that love, those riches. Once we have that picture well embedded
in our hearts then we can easily share it with those God brings across our
paths.

Thinking through how we might do that we need to remind ourselves that these
words from Paul today were written while he was imprisoned. Things were not
going well for him at this time. He was not highly successful. But he was
convinced that he was where God needed him to be and he was doing the work
that God had for him and he was so grateful for being able to fulfil this
task.

It is always tricky to keep the right picture of God and His love in the
front of our minds but practicing, like Paul did when he wrote letters like
this, will help us.

Thank you Lord for your amazing love, generosity and grace. Help us to
remember each moment of the day that we have a God that loves us without
limit. Help us to see you and your love in every aspect of our lives even
when things are not going well. Help us to embed the picture that Paul
paints here in our minds when we look at our lives, to see how we fit into
your plans and to see things as you see them. Then once we have that help us
to share those treasures with everyone in our lives.

Amen

Written by Therese Manning