Read: Ephesians 1:3-14
Watch: https://bibleproject.com/redemption/
“What do you want for Christmas?” In my childhood, that was the ultimate question during the Fall season. The three big department stores would issue special catalogues we would receive in the mail (no Amazon in those days). I would skip all the clothes and boring things in the front of the catalogue, and go straight to the toys. I would pour over each item, page by page, wishing, hoping, dreaming, and even praying for the things I wanted to see under the Christmas tree. Of course, this is just silly childhood fantasy… I never got everything I wanted.
What do you wish for?
Our Heavenly Father is so rich! What is God so rich in? Kindness and grace! Themes we have been seeing over and over in the Psalms and now in Ephesians. To the ancients, the term was “He owns the cattle on a thousand hills.” That mean a lot of cows! In truth, our Creator-God owns everything. There is nothing that is not under His command.
Paul is telling us that God is so rich in kindness and grace, that He purchased our freedom. What did it cost God? The life, the blood, of His Son! And what did God buy with this purchase? The forgiveness of your sin and mine!
God loves you so much that He paid the ultimate sacrifice for your freedom (redemption). He willingly purchased your freedom from sin and death, by becoming the only sacrifice that could rescue you. Not only did He shower us with His kindness in doing so, but He has also gifted us with wisdom and understanding!
In other words, God’s gifts us with salvation (forgiveness from sin and death), but also with the bonus presents of wisdom and understanding. Talk about a “Christmas” celebration! You not only receive what you hope for, “In Christ,” but there are added benefits. We are given His wisdom, and His understanding! Lets open those presents and lavish in the Love of our Heavenly Father!
Pray: Father, thank you for your lavish gifts of salvation, kindness, grace, understanding and wisdom! Help me to daily open these gifts and put them to use.
Discussion Questions:
1. Contrast “silly childhood fantasy” of a Christmas wish list with the lavish gifts of salvation, wisdom, and understanding from God. In what ways do we still approach our relationship with God with a “wish list” mentality, and how can we shift our perspective to one that truly appreciates the “riches of His grace”?
2. ”Redemption” is the act of being “bought back” from sin and death with the “blood” of Christ. What does this mean for our daily lives? How should the understanding of such a high cost influence the way we live and interact with others?
3. Wisdom and understanding are “bonus presents” that accompany salvation. How are these gifts distinct from one another, and in what practical ways can we “open these gifts and put them to use” in our everyday choices and relationships?