Lived Out

Ephesians 1:9 says, He made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of His will, according to His purpose which He set forth in Christ. I came across this verse yesterday while reading E. Stanley Jones’ In Christ and what I love about it is that it clearly lets us know that there’s no huge mystery in understanding God’s will. That Jesus is His will, not spelled out, but lived out. That’s not to say we are to go around “acting like Jesus”, but rather that the relationship that Christ has with The Father is the same relationship He wants for us. The things that we can have in common are intimacy, the peace and security that Christ has no matter the circumstance and the ever-increasing ability to trust. The rest will be as unique as each of us. God’s will looked at through Jesus spells “Love”.

Sovereign

God’s sovereignty is in many ways the affirmation of each of the characteristics we’ve been looking at. Sovereign means supreme or most high and declares that there is none greater. I’ve also heard God’s sovereignty described as “He can do whatever He wants.” Which is true, but the reason He can do what He wills is because of who He is, because of His goodness, love, mercy and all the other attributes we’ve looked at. Sovereign also refers to freedom. God is free to carry out His plan. One of the aspects of God’s plan is giving us liberty. We can choose to avoid Him and His plan, which actually leads to bondage or we can choose to walk with Him and experience His freedom.