How Long Have You Been on God's Mind?

Day 265: Ephesians 1:1-23

“Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.” - Ephesians 1:5 ESV

How long has God had you on His mind? When did He know that you would come to faith in His Son, Jesus? According to this verse, before God said, "Let there be light," He knew you would be saved toward a new life. That should make you feel loved today.

Ephesians 1 could be re-read 100x in one sitting and still have more to give us as food for the depths of our souls.

The exciting thing to think about, coming out of this passage, is that there are still more who God knows who will turn to Him in faith for salvation from their sin. The troubling thing is that we don't know who will say "yes" to Jesus. God does. We don't. We don't have foreknowledge as God does (He exists outside of time). This should give some serious urgency to our call as followers of Jesus to "go and make disciples of all nations." (see Matthew 28:18-20)

The pre-Christians are out there. Let's go find them and then tell them they are invited to experience eternal life as well.

Markus Barth (AB) puts it, “The happiness that accompanies a radiant good will is implied. Those singing God’s praise … respond to God’s pleasure in doing good.” - Foulkes, F. (1989). Ephesians (Vol. 10, p. 57)