Eternal Perspective!

Ephesians 3:1-13 1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles— 2 Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you, 3that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. 4 In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. 6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. 7 I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power. 8 Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. 10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. 13 I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.

   There’s nothing like a good dose of perspective to keep us grounded in life. That can be true when things are going well and we’re tempted to think too much of ourselves. And it is true when things are not going well and we’re tempted to become discouraged and let our circumstances get the best of us. Apparently this was the case for many believers in Paul’s day. Many believers were grieved over Paul’s time in prison and over the continual suffering he endured because of his ministry. So, in the first part of chapter 3, Paul helps his friends put things into perspective, divine perspective.

   In verse 1 Paul begins “For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—" But then he stops himself in mid-sentence. He doesn’t even return to his thought until verse 14. And he does this because he realized that he needed to address the needs of discouragement that many were facing. Their discouragement was over what was happening with Paul. So he writes in verse 13 (NLT) So please don’t lose heart because of my trials here. I am suffering for you, so you should feel honored. He knows that his imprisonment and his sufferings have been hard on them. So he presses the pause button on what he was going to say long enough to speak perspective into their lives, perspective that will encourage their hearts.

   This is something that every one of us needs as followers of Jesus. A divine perspective, an eternal perspective! How we view and react to circumstances is more important than the actual circumstances themselves. If all we can see is our immediate situation, then our circumstances control us. We feel good when our circumstances are good but miserable when they are not. But when we keep a divine perspective in the midst of our circumstances, then our circumstances don’t get the best of us and we stay on track with God’s purposes for our lives.

   Let me encourage you today, whatever your circumstances, whatever your trials, whatever your situation may be, just know that GOD IS IN CONTROL! Put everything in perspective…divine & eternal perspective!

~ Matt