The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"The Power and the Price"
Part 5 - And So It Begins
"Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end, amen" (Ephesians 3:20-21).
"And so it begins."
I love this introductory phrase, finding it to be both poetic and descriptive of things that hopefully have both happy origins and outcomes. Regarding spiritual matters, the phrase speaks to many issues, one of which is eternal life. When did it begin, or when will it begin?
It did not, and it will not. Eternal life has always been, and will always be. God Himself - "from everlasting and to everlasting" - actually exists as the essence and meaning of the reality. "He is thy life" declared Moses, a glorious affirmation echoed by the Lord Jesus Christ - "I am… the life" (Exodus 30:20; John 14:6). No eternal life exists outside of our Lord, and if anyone else ever experiences such everlasting vitality, the presence of God Himself will impart the gift.
"These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God" (I John 5:13).
In the new birth that occurs in the believer's heart through faith in Christ, God Himself enters to dwell forevermore as the very Life of our lives. An eternally ancient glory becomes "the hope of glory" declared by the Apostle Paul as "Christ in you" (Colossians 1:27). To "have eternal life" means that we have the Spirit of the Lord Jesus dwelling within us. In this sense, eternal life began for believers in the moment we were born again by grace through faith. We presently have this life in Christ, as we will forevermore. "Whosoever liveth and believeth on Me shall never die" declared the Savior who is Himself our eternal life, based on His promise, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (John 11:26; Hebrews 13:5).
And so it began, in the moment of the new birth for all who believe. A life that conquered death teems within our spirits, moving in greater spiritual power than the material explosion of light, energy, and substance unleashed by the Holy Spirit when He moved upon the primordial waters of earth in the physical creation (Genesis 1:2). "Exceeding, abundantly above all that we ask or think" declares the Apostle Paul of "the power that worketh in us." Can this possibly be true of every believer, considering the wide range of our experience and response to God? Can it be true of you and me? It can and it is, based on the truthfulness of our Heavenly Father, the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus that made such grace possible, and the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. We already "have eternal life," glorious in its residence within in us, albeit limited in our present experience. Great awareness and availing ourselves of this "hope of glory" awaits our greater faith and submission to the truth. "We have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God" (Romans 5:2).
And so it never began, the eternal life that is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And so it did begin in us when we trusted the Lord Jesus. And so it can begin experientially in ever new receptions of grace through faith, as we discover that to whatever degree we have known the eternal life of God is our lives, the awareness has just begun of "the power that worketh in us."
"The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
(Romans 6:23)
Weekly Memory Verse
Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end."
(Ephesians 3:20-21)
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