One

I've been reading Ephesians in my slow, reflective fashion since July. I often read the Bible through a very self-focused lens. But with Ephesians, you really can't do that. It is so much about the Church.

Chapters 2 and 3 outline four key goals of the church. (At least, the way I read it.) These are amazing things we can accomplish as the body of Christ.

Goal 1: Put hostility to death

Reading Ephesians 2:16 on its own might lend itself to self-focus. But in context, Paul is writing about the former barrier between Jews and Gentiles. Jesus died to put to make these two groups into one new one: the Church. And he has used this new, united body to put to death hostility. Sadly, this is not something the church is known for. (More on that here.) But what an incredible calling!

Goal 2: Be a dwelling in which God lives

I love this one, from Ephesians 2:21-22. With Christ as our cornerstone, God is building us together to be his holy temple. You see, I've always subscribed to the idea that as individuals, Christians are God's temples. 1 Corinthians 6 talks about this. But here in Ephesians the idea is taken further. In our unity, we are being built into a dwelling for God's Spirit. What an honor!

Goal 3: Make known the manifold wisdom of God

Ephesians 3:10 specifically states that God's intent was to reveal this wisdom through the Church. Wow! All the rulers and authorities - not just on earth, but this verse says in the heavenly realms - will see God's wisdom through the Church. Did you catch that? We're not just a glimpse of God to this world. At its best, the Church is showing the heavenly authorities something about God that they can't see otherwise. Our reach is farther than we think!

Goal 4: Bring God glory

Ephesians 3:21 concludes a prayer for the Ephesians by bringing glory to God "in the church." The Westminister Catechism says that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. But it's not just man. The Church itself can be a praise offering, a way to bring glory to God.

Why does the church often fall short of these four goals? Well for one thing, it's made up of imperfect people like me. But Ephesians 4:3-6 talks about unity and notes that there is one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father.

I feel like if Paul were writing a letter to the American church, rather than the one in Ephesus, he would include something along these lines. Maybe expound upon it. With the most conservative estimates for number of protestant denominations being around 20,000, we've sure learned to focus on the differences. (Bonus if you can name all 20,000.)  In our church's pastoral search it came up that one candidate didn't believe in a literal seven day creation. One woman at our church strongly declared that she didn't know how he could call himself a Christian if he didn't believe in a literal seven day creation. That's certainly not focusing on the essentials!

But unity happens when we focus on the essentials. And when unity happens, these four goals will fall into place. Hostility fades away, and we join beautifully together as a temple that shines God's wisdom even into the heavenly realms, bringing him glory.

Glory

Here's a thought from Ephesians 1:11-12: God chose us to reflect his glory.

And according to 2 Corinthians 3:18, we do this with unveiled faces. We shine for Jesus as we become more like him.

There are people who believe that what really matters is that you're a good person. That's how you earn God's favor.

But not only is that untrue (God's love is unconditional, and only Jesus can earn us eternal life), it's a faulty way to look at why we live the way we live.

If I make good choices, but do it for selfish motivations, I might be considered a "good person." But really, I'm like a Pharisee, doing good to show off for others. It's all about me. What people think of me. 

We were made for so much more than that. God chose us to reflect his glory. Our good deeds can shine before men so that they can glorify God. (See Matthew 5:16.) I can use good deeds to have others say, "oooh, look at her! What a nice person she is!"

Or I can use good deeds for something so much bigger, so much greater—to show off the glory of God. Those same people ought to be able to look at my life and say, "Oooh, what a picture of God's love for me!" And then they want to know God just a little bit more. How much greater my act will be if I do it for God's glory?!

My prayer is that God will gradually remove the me out of my motivation. My pastor spoke last week about motivations for serving God. One that he didn't mention is the motivation of showing God off. I want to live in such a way that with an unveiled face, I boldly shine a brilliant reflection of God. I want to be a mere conduit for others to see his goodness.

Power

I've sensed God's power at work in my life more in the past few months than ever before.

I think I've maybe been paying more attention since I read Ephesians 1:19 in July, where Paul prays that the Ephesians might know "his incomparably great power for us who believe."

This is cool. Not only is God's power incomparably greater than anything else (when I read this, my almost-5-year old nephew and I made a list of powerful things as a reminder that God is more powerful*), but it is for us who believe.

God's incomparably great power is real in my life. This is the same power, Ephesians goes on to say, that God used when he raise Christ from the dead. That's the magnitude of power available to me.

It's the power that gives me strength even when I feel lonely or incompetent.

It's the power that enables me to think of wise or creative solutions I never could've come up with on my own.

It's the power that surprises me with unexpected occurrences that bring a smile to my face.

It's the power to send a deluge that puts out a wildfire.

It's the power to speak directly to me.

It's the power that brings healing and freedom out of darkness.

It's the power to control my natural impulses and wait patiently to see what God wants me to do.

God's power is no greater in my life this month than it always has been. I'm just noticing it more. And if you stop to look at your life, you'll see that this awesome power is at work there, even in the bleak times.

* Powerful things my nephew and I came up with: Daddy, computers, elephants, lighting/thunder, lamps, ants, batteries, wildfires.

Made Alive

When I was a kid, a car ran into our yard overnight and crashed into a small tree we had in the front yard. The trunk of the tree was only a few inches in diameter, so it snapped right in half, only connected by a small piece of bark on one side.

To my recollection, we never figured out who the driver (presumably a drunk one) was. We just woke up to see the tire tracks across our lawn and our broken tree. (Although since I did have my own private eye detective agency at the time, I dutifully measured the tire tracks and looked for other clues.)

Many would've declared the tree dead. Dug up the roots and planted a new one. But not my mom. She got this special tree tape and wrapped it up back together like an ace bandage on a sprained wrist. (Well, really more like an ace bandage on a severed leg...) Then she tied 3 ropes to the upper part of the broken tree and rooted them to the ground for stability.

It took a while, but eventually the ropes could go. And then one day, the tape could go, too. The tree had grown back together. Although it seemed like any hope for life had been taken by that mystery drunk driver, my mom put in the work needed to make life prevail. And for the near 20 years that have followed, the tree has thrived.

I was reminded of this tree when I read Ephesians 2:1-5 last week. It talks about how we were dead in our sins. But God, because of his great love, "made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions."

When it seemed like hope was gone, like we were dead beyond dead, God found a way to bring us life. This resurrected tree at my parents' house has become a beautiful picture of the life God gave us when he sent Jesus to die on another tree.

Looking at the tree today, you'd never know it had nearly died. The tire tracks in the grass have long since grown out and been mowed over, and the tree looks just like its matching one across the driveway.

This is my challenge. I am alive in Christ. I know that he rescued me from death. But the question is, do I stand firm as one who has been made alive? Or when people look at me, can they see a little bit of death still in me? A crack in the bark here, a dead leaf there?

We're alive! Let's show the world what new life looks like!

Rejection

I've had my fair share of rejection in my life. Maybe because I've always been so bluntly honest. (My name does mean Truthful.) Whenever I liked a guy, I always ended up telling him, usually to find out that he just saw me as a "sister." And despite the fact that a couple of these guys even said things like "any guy would be nuts not to like you," I guess they identified themselves as nuts...because they didn't reciprocate my feelings.

But this never really got me down longterm. Of course, the sister line was heartbreaking in the moment, but it never made me feel more guarded in the future. My policy has always been to just be honest. If nothing else, it alleviates the game playing, the wondering, the ambiguity. Even the rejection provided a closure for me, a chance to know "nope, this isn't happening, so I can start to get over this now."

But things are different now. I realized recently that I'm much more guarded than I used to be. The rejection of the end of a marriage is far different than telling the guy who sits next to you in chapel that you're into him and having him say he's not into you. Even though in the case of my marriage, I was ready for it to be over, whereas with chapel-guy I didn't want to hear his rejection...it's still somehow harder this time.

Because when I got married I thought that was it. I was playing for keeps. This wasn't something that would end in rejection. This was for life. Or so I thought. To know that even my supposed life-long relationship ended in rejection left me a little more guarded. A little more jaded. A little more hopeless. Could I ever find a guy who likes me for me...even when the butterflies fade? (And yes, Bachelor and Bachelorette contestants, butterflies fade. Sorry to be the one to burst your bubble. No one lives happily ever after all the time.)

Most of this post-marriage period has been so good for me. So healing. Such a wonderful journey of empowerment and self-discovery. A journey toward a wholeness that I never had before. But then there's this part. This part that leaves me a little paralyzed, a little more fearful. A little less honest-ol'-Ali and a little more reserved, guarded Ali. It's a wound that may never fully heal.

But this is where I've been relishing: Ephesians 1 says that God chose me. In love he predestined me to be adopted. And get this—not just for my sake but for his pleasure. God delighted in me so much that he wanted to choose me. There will never be any rejection from God, of that I can be sure.

Finishing Well

Lately I've been thinking about finishing well in the faith. I spent June reflecting on Philippians 3 and things like this stuck out to me: "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so somehow to attain the resurrection from the dead."

And this one: "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

And then I launched into Ephesians yesterday and was struck by the fact that God has given me "every spiritual blessing."

After reflecting on that one, I kept thinking of the song "Give Me Jesus" by Fernando Ortega. I downloaded it and have been listening to it a lot.

So often my mind is consumed by "earthly things" as Philippians 3 calls them. But when it comes down to it, Jesus is every spiritual blessing I need. I am so complete in him. I just want to run toward him, to know him, to "gain Christ and be found in him." To be more like him. To reflect him to everyone around me.

I don't mean to sound cheesy. I'm just more in love with Jesus than ever. The leader of my DivorceCare group talked about how post-divorce was such a rich, sweet time for her faith...and that is so true for me, too.

Tonight I was listening to "Untitled Hymn (Come to Jesus)" by Chris Rice, and aside from the contradiction in the title (I never understood how he can call it untitled and then put a title in parentheses), I was near tears as he sang the last verse:

And with your final heartbeat

Kiss the world goodbye,

And go in peace, and laugh on glory's side

And fly to Jesus

Fly to Jesus

Fly to Jesus and live

It made me think of this assignment I had in college to write a biography about a Christian role model. The rule was they had to be dead or "close to dead" so that we knew they finished well.

This made me think about Asa (I know, my mind is quite the path to follow), a king in the Bible (1 Kings 15; 2 Chronicles 14) who loved and honored God almost his whole life. The Bible says his heart was "fully committed to the Lord all his life."

Except then in the 36th year of his reign, a battle is looming and he makes a treaty with another king instead of relying on God. In his 39th year he falls ill and the Bible says he did not seek help from the Lord, but only from his physicians. Two years later, he was dead. A lifetime of following God. 5 years of turning aside, and that's how he went out. Asa didn't finish well.

But someday on my deathbed, whether that's tomorrow or in 70 years, I want to be singing "Just give me Jesus." I want to fly to Jesus. I want to always be as in love with him as I am right this moment. And in between now and then, I don't want to let anything distract me from loving and honoring him.

Marriage

So...Ephesians 5 is often cited as a passage about how to be married. Specifically, people look at verses 22-33, and they say that wives are supposed to submit to their husbands, and husbands are supposed to love their wives with Christ's sacrificial love, and that's what our roles are.

But reading it in context, I don't think that's what it means. Ladies, we don't get out of the sacrificial love bit. 5:2 says to a general audience: "Live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." Husbands aren't the only ones called to love with a sacrificial love. We're all called to love that way - not just our spouses, but everyone.

And men, you don't get out of submitting, either. Verse 21 says (still to a general audience): "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." Everyone is supposed to be submissive, putting others' needs before their own. Not just to spouses, but to everyone.

The call was tough enough when we thought all we had to do was submit to our husbands and love our wives. But as it turns out, we all have to submit and we all have to love sacrificially. It's how Jesus lived, after all.

Ephesians

I've decided to start a new blogging tradition: blogging about the passages I highlighted when I finish a book of the Bible. I thought this would be a nice recap for me, and a nice way to share what I'm learning from God's Word. And so, without further adieu, I present: Ephesians.

1:3 - "spiritual blessing in Christ." The whole verse is good, but I just highlighted that part. It struck me how often I consider blessings tangible things. Spiritual blessings is a whole separate level.

1:11 - "In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will." This one struck me because of the last part. We have free will, but ultimately God works it out for his ultimate purposes.

2:10 - "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." One I'd memorized, but a good refresher. We're here for a reason. A specific reason. God has specific things he wants us to accomplish for him. We were created to do those very things. What an amazing sense of purpose.

4:1 - "As a prisoner of the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received." What a great piggyback off of 2:10 - we've got this amazing calling to do the very good works God prepared for us. I love this challenge to live worthy of that calling. Not just to do the good works, but to live as one who is clearly working for God in everything.

4:2, 13, 15, 16 - "in love" "unity" "in love" "in love" - It stuck out to me how much the word love was used in talking about unity. We've got to love each other.

4:22-24 - "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desire; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." I feel like this verse captures the journey of faith - putting off our old as we strive to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

4:29 - "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building  others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." In middle school I recited this verse to those who swear around me. But now it strikes me that this verse isn't so much about abstaining from swearing - it's about considering how each word you say benefits those who listen. Do I build people up, or tear them down?

5:15 - "Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." This one challenged me. How much intentionality is there to how I live? Do I make the most of every opportunity to be wise? Do I even recognize those opportunities?

6:12- "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." So often the troubles of this world feel so consuming. We look at the tangible things and get so discouraged, forgetting that in the big picture, we're in this cosmic battle against powerful dark forces. That's why we must wear the armor of God and stand firm.

I have a couple more thoughts on Ephesians that I want to elaborate on in more detail, so stay tuned for that tomorrow!