In today’s first reading, Ephesians 1: 1-10,
St. Paul praises God as follows: ”Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing
in the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to
be holy and without blemish before him.”
To understand the impact
of this statement, we might think of something that we have created or
purchased to serve us in a particular need. We possess that purchase or
created object. It is to meet our need, to fulfill our purpose. It exists for
no other reason. The object is ours, no one else’s possession. God created us
for His purpose, not for our own purpose or for the purpose others dream up for
us. We are God’s, “blessed in Christ
with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as [God] chose us in [God],
before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blemish before him.”
How do you discern
whether you are living according to God’s purposes and not your own or that which someone else dreamed up for you?
If you
are living a life of holiness and striving to accomplish the good for which you
were created, you are receiving, in abundance, “the fruit of the Spirit,” which
is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness,
[and] self-control” (See: Galatians 5: 18-25). However, if you are living
according to the flesh, you are then experiencing the following consequences of
those choices: “immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery,
dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like”
(See Galatians 5: 18-25).
Whose purposes are you
fulfilling?
