DAILY DEVOTION: EPHESIANS 1:8

By Stan Brown

Ephesians 1:8  which He lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight

It is God’s grace which has been lavished upon us in a fashion which Little Kittel describes as “super abundant” and in a manner that defies comprehension.  Every day we see God’s grace manifested to a sinful world that defies and denies that grace.  The world lives in self-destructive disobedience to the One who seeks their welfare through His overwhelming grace.  He continues to display His grace to all as people eat, and breathe and live.  The results of sin propel the world toward chaos but the effects of His grace and the offer of redemption and forgiveness always persist. 
 
To those of us who have accepted this offer of grace received through faith (2:8) the abundance of that grace is made obvious as His loving actions are exhibited in a world beset by the results of sin.  His lavished grace has given us redemption even the forgiveness of our sins.  It also provides us with the wisdom and insight to live as aliens in this world.  This will be discussed further in the next verse where Paul writes making known to us the mystery of His will.   Solomon writes, The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding (Prov. 9:10).   The fear of the LORD is the alphabet from which the words of wisdom are written. We have just looked at the epistle of I John where John describes what is involved in the fear of the Lord.  John portrays it as that place to which we come as we grow in Him that includes walking where He is in the light, knowing Him in an intimate way, confessing our sins as the Holy Spirit reveals them to us, abiding in Him.  We can enter His presence boldly with confidence.  

God also gives us the insight to make use of the wisdom He has provided.  The insight in Ephesians is the understanding of Prov. 9:10.

In the beginning passage of Ephesians, Paul separates the tasks performed by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit as he describes the blessings lavished upon us.  Yet, in this verse the three merge into the One and only God that is.  Together they provide for us this magnificent grace.  The He of this verse is the One God in Three Persons.  He has superabundantly lavished upon us the grace sourced in His love and in His infinite riches.  Once again, we Praise His Holy Name!!!