Ice Cream

Eph 3:20,21 "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." NKJV

 

One of my downfalls is ice cream. Right now I am enjoying a carton of mint chocolate chip…it is one of my favorites. I enjoy going to Malley's that serves something called a black and white. It is vanilla ice cream with hot fudge, chocolate ice cream with marshmallow sauce, topped with whipped cream and a cherry. Whenever I go there, that is what I get. The problem is, when it is gone I want more.

 

That is how I am looking at these verses. Up to this point Paul has given us the great ice cream of God's truth. Now he hits us with the whipped cream and cherry.

 

It's amazing that how you think you know a verse. I mean, I have heard and read and memorized 3:20. For some reason I did not memorize verse 21…but verse 21 is more important than verse 20.

 

First, verse 20 is amazing. I am pumped because God wants me to know His mystery, His unsearchable riches, His manifold wisdom, the width and length and depth and height of His love. But then the whipped cream comes in verse 20. God wants to do more. He wants to move more. He wants to reveal Himself more…more than I can ask. More than I can think. More than I can comprehend. More than I can understand. And He wants to do it in an exceeding abundant way. Sure He wants me to know Him, but He wants to go beyond my wildest imagination…based upon the power that is in me. As I think about His power that is in me, I think of what I wrote about yesterday. Jesus is in me and since He lives in me His power is in me. That very power that raised Jesus from the dead. (1:19,20)

 

Yesterday morning I was praying about a bunch of stuff. One thing I prayed about was our church and our eventual need to move to a new location. I started thinking about how much money this was going to cost, and how were we going to get it and how realistic is this…and now this verse. God can, God does, God will blow me away with how He works. It may not be how I think, in fact it will not be how I think. It will be far beyond how I think. And then I think of my sister in law, Linda, who just had brain surgery. His power is coursing through her veins as well. Even though she is having a difficult time swallowing, and communicating and sitting up straight and walking, God is going to do something far beyond what we ask or think.

 

That is the whipped cream. Verse 21 is the cherry. Verse 21 is what the church is all about. Verse 21 is what life is all about. "To Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever." This entire chapter about understanding the incomprehendable and seeing God work in unbelievable, unrealistic, blow my mind ways is not for me, it is for Him. It is for His glory. It is so He can be exalted. It is so He is magnified in this world. And then this, and this is something that I had never seen before, "to all generations forever and ever". God wants His glory to be revealed to all generations…past, present and future, forever.

 

I take a look at our world today and it just seems like it is going down the tubes. It seems like our society is more godless than ever, and then I hit this verse. God's glory will be revealed to all generations. It does not matter how things seem, the reality is that God will be magnified in my parent's generation, in my generation, in my kid's generation, in Maddie's generation to eternity. This is what it is all about. Every generation will see the salvation and glory of the Lord and it will revealed in the church. In this body of Christ. Through you and me. This is the cherry.