PERSPECTIVE
Ephesians 3
“I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.”
In Paul’s mind, when he thinks of God, he realises that God exists over and across time, dimensions, realms, matter, knowledge—everything that makes up all reality, both visible and invisible. How can he help us enter into the reality of this God?
Language is limited and Paul stretches language as wide and deep as he could. And so he talks of “mystery”, “generations”, “revelation”, “boundless riches”, “ages past”, “hidden in God who created all things”, “manifold wisdom”, “rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms”.
He prays that we may have the power to grasp “how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ”, that we may be filled “to the measure of all the fullness of God”.
This is the language of superlatives, yet even this is not sufficient. And so he tells us that God is able to do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” and then he tells us to imagine that this power of God “is at work within us”.
It is only when we are able to enter into this perspective that we can see that what we are going through in the here and now pale into insignificance as we understand what God intends for us.
“To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”