Blessed On Purpose
When explaining about how God's intention is to pour out blessing on His people, Paul does not simply view this as an added bonus to the Christian life. The apostle's understanding of God's desire to bless us goes far deeper. "He has given us all this, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before Him" (Eph.1:3-4).
So many times I have read this verse and passed over it as an interesting way of saying how much God thought about us before we were born. It never seemed very relevant to my present situation. But now I think that Paul had something else in mind, a much larger perspective. His Jewish heritage included an idea of history in which God had purposed to set apart a people for Himself. More than that, God's desire to have His own children was what started the whole creation! When Paul says God had us in mind before the foundation of the world, he is telling us that we are the very reason God created the world! From that perspective, "blessing us with every spiritual blessing" (1:3) is not an afterthought or an extra bonus God decided to add in to the mix of the Christian life. God created a world with people precisely for the purpose of pouring out His goodness on His children!
This is huge! And it gets even better! Before the world was set in place, God looked ahead in time and what He saw was not a bunch of rag-tag, broken, evil, barely-tolerable souls. No, He envisioned us as "holy and blameless before Him!" He saw us in our true identity as His children, fully grown and mature, living in the joy of knowing what it is like to be holy and without cause for blame. That is why He spares nothing in His endeavor to rescue us and bless us with everything we need in the spiritual realm. He really intends to make His dream come true!
O God, help me get this! Help me really believe this deep in my soul. That you designed this planet and created us just so we could be Your children and receive your love and grace and know You as our true Father.