Ephesians 1:18-19
“…having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe.”
Quick summary: Every person wants hope, riches, and power. It is a human need. No one wants to feel hopeless, poor, and powerless. And yet that is the human condition apart from Christ. Sadly, many people seek to find those things in the wrong places and thereby fall prey to the distortions and seductions of the world. That is because the world can stimulate, but it cannot fulfill.
Because the world’s promises come from a source other than the Creator-God, it comes at a very high cost. Things in the world can give a sense of hope or a sense of wealth or an experience of power, but it is only temporary. It isn’t permanent. It is pseudo-hope, pseudo-riches, pseudo-power.
It is for this reason that Paul prays for us. He wants us to see through the deception and lies of the enemy and the world. He prays that the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened so we can see and comprehend who we are in Christ, and we can see and comprehend the incredible blessings that we have in Christ.
Satan, on the other hand, does not want us to understand who we are and what we have in Christ. The enemy wants us ignorant and confused. He wants us disrupted. If he cannot seduce us with pseudo-promises, he wants us to feel hopeless, poor, and powerless.
Again, this is why Paul prays for us. The foundation of our effectiveness for Christ is found in our understanding of our identity, and our understanding of the resources that are available to us.
The Lord wants us to live and work every day as people who know with confident assurance that we are citizens of God’s eternal kingdom. Who recognize with enormous gratitude the incredible riches we have as fellow heirs with Christ. Who understand and tap into the power of the resurrected Christ as we meet the daily challenges of life and work.
This is our identity. This is who we are. This is the life to which the Lord s calls us.
