Now to him
who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,
according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus
throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)
Sigh. How
is a person supposed to comment anything beyond “Hallelujah!”? And yet, here we
are.
I suspect that
a considerable percentage of believers may struggle with the idea that God can
do more than all we ask or imagine. Oh, of course, He’s omnipotent, but we want
________ and we don’t get it. God can, but God doesn’t, so why et excited.
Part of the
problem is that “more than all we ask or imagine” involves minds that ask or
imagine in God’s direction. Often, when we ask or think, it’s external, but
Paul is talking about the power that is at work within us. Paul’s perspective
seems to be similar to Dallas Willard’s. Prof. Willard spoke of the important
thing being that we become the kind of person who does the things we want to
do.
And since I'm beginning my fall and winter half of life this morning, the question is a good one. What kind of person do I want to be? Three obvious choices are: wise, directed, and one that has a good attitude. Another would be that I want to be a person characterized by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Then there are the heart's cries: competent, collected, calm, organized, strong, educated, and beautiful (inside at least)... I know that some of those are on God's list for me, but maybe not all of them.
What's on your list?
And since I'm beginning my fall and winter half of life this morning, the question is a good one. What kind of person do I want to be? Three obvious choices are: wise, directed, and one that has a good attitude. Another would be that I want to be a person characterized by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Then there are the heart's cries: competent, collected, calm, organized, strong, educated, and beautiful (inside at least)... I know that some of those are on God's list for me, but maybe not all of them.
What's on your list?
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