Hope, Power, and Riches

         I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength. (Ephesians 1:17-19 NIV)

 

I only made it about a third of the way through this passage yesterday. I didn’t finish with the note that the whole purpose of our receiving the Spirit of wisdom and revelation is to know Him better. But, moving on from there. Paul’s next request on behalf of the Ephesians (and us) was that the eyes of their/our hearts may be enlightened in order that we may know hope, riches, and power.

The hope, riches, and power that Paul describes aren’t what we usually think. Often, I suspect our thoughts about these topics is selfish. I can’t really blame people. I like to hope for things that I want to happen. I would like to have enough money that I didn’t feel as if I have to punish myself for every expense. I would like to have the power to do what I want to do.

I wrote a little about hope as my Wordy Wednesday post, but it bears repeating here. I’m in a “Hurry up! Not yet!” time. There’s so much I want to get done, but it’s too cold, it’s too early, it’s too…  Or I’m too afraid, too lazy, too uneducated, too weak, too old, too poor, too powerless, too … But I know that this is that time of year, just before it becomes possible or is the right time. I know that the time is coming when I will be able to do, and to learn and so I can hope.

Just as people tend to think of hope as something pie-in-the-sky, people tend to misunderstand power. Our automatic response is that power means power over or control of someone or something else. There’s a sense in which that is true, but power also refers not only to authority but to ability, knowledge, skill (etc.) During this time, I can prepare, make decisions, and get things ready, so that when the time comes there is nothing in the way.

Riches are equally a problem. We tend to think of riches as having more than we can possibly use (and I can find ways to use a lot!) and we’re usually talking about money. But my hope is that I will have a big enough harvest that I can use it (as power) to do good in my own life and in the lives of others. Riches are, in a sense, just another form of power- the power to do good or evil. I hope I choose to do good, and have the opportunity to do so.