Most of us live pretty much from day to day most of the time. It’s what to eat tonight; where to go on holiday; whether we’ve done enough work for tomorrow’s meeting. And then suddenly we are faced with the bigger picture. Maybe it’s just the start of another year encouraging us to cast our gaze a little wider, but perhaps it’s something bigger… some crisis or shock, personal or national – even a positive one like finding out it’s triplets, or a big promotion – forces a new perspective on us, a bigger picture. A new way of seeing and relating to our lives, our purpose, our death, or our world.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world… He made known to us the mystery of his will… to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfilment – to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. Ephesians 1:3-4, 9-10
Paul is passionate about the bigger picture. We are, he says, ‘blessed in the heavenly realms’. Even when we feel we are not blessed down here. We are chosen before the foundation of the world to be given a significant part of the great drama set out in Scripture. Chosen before it all began and chosen to be there when all things come together in Christ.
So, however tough it gets in the meantime, lift up your eyes and your hearts, says Paul. Lift them up above the daily worries and concerns of ordinary human life – whether financial, emotional, familial, medical, or professional – and see the amazing blessings that are yours in Christ. As we enter the swing of a new year, what might it look like for you to bring a heavenly perspective to bear on your current situation?
In accordance with the riches of his grace and love, we have been chosen to be holy and blameless, to be changed from one degree of glory to another until we are like Christ, to demonstrate his character to our world.
We don’t know how 2019 will unfold, but instead of living head down, bound in to this life’s small ups and downs, making do with the little blessings and the little picture, look up today and see the bigger picture.
Margaret Killingray
Every blessing for your week, from the LICC Team
