The letter to the Ephesians begins with praise. Before Paul explains how Christians should live, before he talks about the church, relationships, spiritual warfare, or any of the practical concerns that will come later in the letter, he worships.

And once Paul starts, he barely seems able to stop. “Bless the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! He has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing that comes from heaven” (Ephesians 1:3 CEB). The phrase that keeps carrying Paul forward is “in Christ.”

We are blessed in Christ. Chosen in Christ. Given grace in Christ. Redeemed through Christ. Given an inheritance in Christ. Marked with the Holy Spirit in Christ.

Paul is helping us see the Christian life within a much larger story than our individual circumstances. Our faith is personal, but it is never only personal. God has been at work from before creation and is moving creation toward the day when everything in heaven and on earth will be brought together in Christ.

We can easily shrink salvation down to a question of what happens to us after we die. Ephesians gives us a much larger vision. God is redeeming people from sin, forming a holy people, and working toward the renewal of creation under the reign of Jesus Christ. And somehow, by grace, we have been invited into that purpose.

Paul says God chose us in Christ “to be holy and blameless in love” (v. 4). Discussions about being “chosen” can quickly become debates about who is included, who is excluded, and how human freedom fits into God’s purposes. But notice where Paul places the emphasis. His first response to election isn’t speculation. It's worship.

God has acted first. Grace comes before our response. God’s saving purpose didn't begin when we finally figured things out, became religious enough, or decided to improve ourselves. God was already moving toward us in Christ. That's Wesleyan ground. Grace comes first. But grace also calls for a response. We are chosen in Christ for something: “to be holy and blameless in love.”

Holiness isn’t an entrance requirement that convinces God to accept us. It's what God’s grace intends to produce in us. The God who forgives us also forms us. The grace that welcomes us begins transforming us into people whose lives increasingly reflect Jesus.

Paul then stretches the horizon even farther. God’s purpose, he says, is “to bring all things together in Christ, the things in heaven along with the things on earth” (v. 10).

The gospel is larger than escaping a broken world. God intends to restore what sin has fractured. Heaven and earth, creation and Creator, humanity and God—all brought into their proper relationship through Christ.

God has given us a taste of that future already. Paul says those who heard the gospel and believed were “sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.” The Spirit is the “down payment on our inheritance.” (vv. 13–14) The future God promises has already begun breaking into the present.

Every time the Spirit makes us more like Christ, we experience a glimpse of what God is doing. Every time enemies reconcile, every time sin loses its grip, every time love replaces selfishness, every time the church becomes a community where grace and holiness take visible form, the future kingdom is already beginning to show.

That may be why Paul finishes the chapter by praying for opened eyes. He doesn’t primarily pray that the Ephesians would receive something they completely lack. He prays that they would recognize more clearly what God has already given them: the hope of God’s call, the richness of God’s inheritance, and the greatness of God’s power.

And the power Paul has in mind is resurrection power. The same God who raised Jesus from the dead is at work among God’s people.

We may sometimes wish that power looked more spectacular. But resurrection power often works quietly before it works visibly. It breaks the power of sin. It teaches us to forgive. It forms patience where anger once ruled. It creates generosity where fear once held tightly. It makes a divided group of people into the Body of Christ.

Ephesians will have plenty to say about how we live. But Paul begins by reminding us why any of it is possible. We are not trying to create a new life for ourselves. We are receiving the life God has already given us in Christ and allowing the Holy Spirit to shape us into the people God has called us to become.

Everything begins in Christ. And everything God is making new is headed toward Christ.

Read Ephesians 1:3–14 slowly today. Each time you encounter the words “in Christ,” “in him,” or another reference to what God has done through Jesus, pause and thank God for that particular gift of grace. Then ask the Holy Spirit to show you one place where that grace is shaping you toward holiness in love.