I am loved, I am accepted, I am valued

Ephesians 3:1-6

¹ When I think of all this, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the benefit of you Gentiles … ² assuming, by the way, that you know God gave me the special responsibility of extending his grace to you Gentiles. ³ As I briefly wrote earlier, God himself revealed his mysterious plan to me. ⁴ As you read what I have written, you will understand my insight into this plan regarding Christ. ⁵ God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now by his Spirit he has revealed it to his holy apostles and prophets.

⁶ And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus.

I love Paul’s eccentric writing structure and style here in chapters 3 of Ephesians. He starts off in verse 1 with a reflection, then in verse 2 he pauses his thoughts to remind and emphasise to the gentile believers as well as the diaspora Jews that he is qualified by God and called to share the gospel, and what that unity in Christ looks like for both groups. This parenthesis continues into verse 14 when Paul finally gets to the point of his reflection which is…

Prayer

Paul then finishes this beautiful cry out to God on behalf of the Jews and Gentiles in Ephesus (and us today) in verse 21 with a massive “Amen”.

Tim Keller, in a podcast I heard this week, said, “The gospel is that you’re more sinful and evil and weak than you ever dared believe, but you are more valued and accepted in love than you ever dared hoped”.

That is God’s plan in verse 6 that Paul wishes for us to discover. The “gospel of grace” is there, awaiting acceptance, fully and completely available to anyone. A rich eternal inheritance awaits everyone who believes in Jesus, no matter what their background. This one-ness to Jesus and to each other is granted when we acknowledge our “sin and evil and weakness” and cry out in faith to God – trusting in His “value and acceptance and love” for us. This wholeness and restoration to God – this unmerited forgiveness – costs us nothing but our surrendering trust, but cost Jesus, “not less than everything” (TS Eliot).

Now the sin and sorrow and doubt and guilt dissolve in the blessed reality of adoption, of love, of complete acceptance, and the infinite value that God bestows on those who trust in Jesus. May you rest peacefully in the assurance of this reality today.

Dear Jesus, so often I fail to rest in the reality of what you did for me on the cross. Help me today to rest in this “complete simplicity” (TS Eliot) – that I am loved and accepted and valued by you.
Amen

Written by B van Noppen