Ephesians 1.18
“…having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know …”
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 offerings come from a source other than the Creator, it comes at a 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.
That is the great social/political challenge of our time. Politicians, pundits, and activists are seeking hope, riches, and power apart from God. And that is a recipe for disaster.
We must not allow the world to seduce us and deceive us with its false promises and pseudo-hope. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12.2)
So Paul prays for us. He prays that the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened, and that we would see and comprehend who we are in Christ, and that we would see and comprehend the incredible blessings we have in Christ … and then take action accordingly.
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. He wants us to feel hopeless, poor, and powerless. And he wants us to seek hope and power in all the wrong things.
Again, it is for this very reason that 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.
The Lord wants us to be faithful people who know with enormous gratitude the incredible riches we have as fellow heirs with Christ. People 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 has called us.
