Eph 3:8 "To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ," NKJV
As I read Ephesians chapter three, I am starting to see that maybe I am underestimating the things that we as believers are able to understand about God. The next few days will kind of lay this out, but Paul starts here, with who he was, with who that church was and who Christ is.
Who was Paul? Before he became a Christian he was Saul. A circumcised Hebrew of Hebrews. From the tribe of Benjamin. A very learned Pharisee. A teacher of the law. A big deal hotshot in his religion. So much so that he persecuted this new group of people called the church. He even said that he was blameless as it related to the law. (That is a pretty bold claim…see Phil. 3) Now who is he? A guy who was picked out by God to take his past history and his learning and teach the church. He is the guy who wrote two thirds of the New Testament. He, in my mind, was a significant part of what God was doing…but in his mind he was "…less than the least of all the saints". He knew his past. He knew what he had done. He knew how very unworthy he was to be in the position that he was in. He knew the grace of God in his life and it humbled him.
I wonder how I do? Do I start to believe my own press clips? Don't. I can't. If Paul was less that the least, I am less than that. Why did God choose me to be a part of His family? Why can I sit here and write this stuff? Why does He share His word with me? Not a clue…yet I am His poem…His workmanship. As I have said before: "I am nothing and He is everything and He wants to make me something." I stand amazed.
What was Paul called to do? Preach the unsearchable riches of Christ to the Gentiles. The unsearchable riches means the incomprehendable abundance of Christ. This is the stuff that I talk about so often…that we really cannot grasp what Jesus is like…what God is like. I mean, He is too huge. Too massive. Too awesome. Yet here is Paul saying that he has been called to preach these incomprehendable things. If his job was to preach this stuff, then apparently it could be known, because he had to know it and he had to communicate it to these people.
This is why I said at the beginning that I think that I may be underestimating some things. Will I in this life be able to grasp all that God is? No way. Can I grasp more than I have? Yes…and it is a never ending adventure.
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