All Things In Christ

Ephesians 1:7-14

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace
which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,
that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.
In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,
that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

‘All things in Christ’. ‘All’ means ‘fully’, ‘completely’, ‘entirely’, ‘whatsoever’, ‘whosoever’ and ‘without exception’. A whole lot on the shoulders of one small three-letter word; but then so has the word ‘God’, come to that. In a sense they are synonymous.

‘All Things’ in Scriptural terms means just that. There is no equivocation. But it seems to me that to receive the ‘all things’ that Jesus Christ offers, there must be a reciprocal offering of ‘all things’ from us. We must both be attuned to one another, or rather, we are completely at one with Him. This is not an easy task, unequipped as we are for such a transformation, and so there is a growing together over time, a growing which He is working in us if we choose to allow it.

But as He ‘knows the end from the beginning’, He provides us with a foretaste of His promised outcome for each of us — something we can have now, which reveals how it will be — something which He knows already is. Along the way, our commitment and understanding of His compassion and lifegiving love are tested and retested in what the apostle Peter calls ‘the fiery trial of our faith’.

I began writing this meditation immediately following completion of our final post on John 18, pausing for a day or so to hear what The Lord was saying. What He was saying — or better, showing, is the reality of that fiery trial. I do not wish to dramatise a situation, but a distressing event occurred which has left Gill and I feeling threatened and uncomfortable. Compared to what many suffer on a daily basis, it is as nothing — only something out of the ordinary in our experience. A trial nonetheless, but one in which we see Our Lord’s hand of covering and protection. It could have been so much worse.

Three days later, The Lord answered the cry of our hearts in a family matter. His grace and restoring power brings such immense joy in its wake. Proof to me that [He planned] for the maturity of the times and the climax of the ages to unify all things and head them up and consummate them in Christ, [both] things in heaven and things on the earth. AMPC

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Meditate On These Things

1 PETER 4:12-16
Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you;
but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.
If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.
But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters.
Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.
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MATTHEW 19:18-26
Then Jesus said to His disciples, "Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, "Who then can be saved?"
But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

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ALL TO JESUS I SURRENDER — Robin Mark

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A HOLY PROMISE: Oswald Chambers on HOPE
— In Doubt: Hope in GOD --

IF I LET the sorrow of a bereaved home weigh on me, instantly my faith in God is gone; I am so overcome with sympathy that my prayer is nothing more than a wail of sympathy before God.
The influence of my mind on another, whether I speak or not, is so subtle that the prince of this world will use it to prevent my getting hold of God; whereas if I remain confident in God I lift the weight off lives in a way I shall never realise till I stand before Him.
We have to pray that the enemy shall not make God's children slander Him by worry and anxiety. We are to hold off the exactings of Satan, not add to them.
[from ‘God’s Workmanship’]

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