My heart is full of all the things I want to share with you. In short: do not go about your day without marveling and embracing the grace of God. It’s amazing and it’s been brought to you by the blood of Christ. So do not put it in vain without accepting and receiving it. Not only for your salvation but for your everyday enjoyment and encouragement. Because you are meant to live to the praise of his grace and glory.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,⁴ even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love⁵ he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 

⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, ⁸ which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight⁹ making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ ¹⁰ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. (Eph. 1:3-10, ESV, emphasis added)

Live to the praise of his grace and glory

God’s will is good and he is the source of all the spiritual blessings as Paul explains in verse three. But, as you can see, the blessings are only accessible through Christ. Only through his blood, we have redemption. It’s not something we take from Christ and then go on with our lives on our own. No. It’s something we live in Christ. Continually. Day in, day out. Christ did not come to make us perfect, self-sufficient people. He came that we had life and more life in him. So we could live to the praise of his grace and glory. And find the ultimate satisfaction in him. How does this happen?

Find the ultimate satisfaction

You are called to live to the praise of his grace and glory. Only that will bring you the ultimate satisfaction you crave. Let me explain. The world thinks the ultimate satisfaction is found in anything but Jesus. But the Bible tells us that it is found only in praising God and his grace and glory. How come?

Because God loves us so much. What? He wants us to be saved for sure, that’s why he sent his own son to redeem us and bring us back to him. But that was only the beginning. He wants more for us. God wants us to enjoy him and his spiritual blessings. When we truly understand the lavishness of God’s gifts to us, we burst into praise of his grace and glory. That’s what he wants to us: the genuine joy of connecting with God. And even that is not the end of it. With praise, we receive even more blessings. Praise completes our enjoyment of God and his grace and glory. It’s the ultimate satisfaction. Just for you.

Gracious God,
We thank you and we praise you
for your grace and glory.
Thank you for blessing us with so much more than we can even imagine.
Be praised for gifting us
with grace upon grace,
life upon life,
joy upon joy.
Show us how special it is
to abide in you
and truly connect with you.
Teach us to praise you in divine ways.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: Have you found the ultimate satisfaction in praising Jesus?

Be richly blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you take to the praise of his grace and glory as your ultimate goal for your life.

Photo by Xan Griffin on Unsplash,