Reflections on Ephesians 3:10 — Sharing God’s Good News Is My (Our) Awesome (Only) Calling

“that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.”

This is Paul’s great purpose, and, through Holy Spirit, it is mine (and yours) as well: to build the church so that His glorious wisdom will spread to all of humanity.

Ahhhh. Such a noble, glorious mission. Thanks be to Him for the Great Commission.

But it’s much easier said than done, of course.

As an English teacher over the years, I’ve introduced many-a-student to the concept of a thesis, a single sentence that guides the focus of a written work. To be an effective, countless young writers have heard me say, a piece should have a coherent thesis from which all other paragraphs, sentences, and even words flow. Unity is what you’re striving for in an essay, and it’s important each word play a role.

This seems, of course, a common sense idea. But rarely does it come naturally to a beginning writer.  And its often a struggle even for professional writers.

Like even beginners, I find it exceedingly difficult, painful even, to stick to one main point in the things I compose. Writing a love letter to my awesome wife, for example, can sometimes leave me hopelessly torn: do I spend 200 pages or more pouring each loving, Godly quality that I admire in her? Or do I just focus on one or two?  For the sake of blessing her (and myself) by getting something on paper, of course, I have to do the latter.  But which of those qualities to highlight? And how to celebrate, say, her inspirational, giving nature, without going on and on about how much I love the delicious meals she so selflessly prepares for me most days. (Right now, for example, I really want to digress into a poetic tribute to that shrimp alfredo she made from scratch last week. But that’s not my purpose, to which I must return. Sigh. This is TOUGH!)

All of this is why I’m semi-famous for this phrase to my students: “Writing is hard, and anyone who tells you otherwise is either lying, or not a good writer.”

Likewise — to finally return to Paul’s line of scripture —  living one’s life only for God and His church is difficult. And anyone who tells you otherwise is either lying, or not a good Christian.

Thanks be to God, Paul (nor Jesus himself) never promised that the Christian life is easy. In fact, he (and many others) famously testified otherwise.

I’ve found that spreading God’s good news often goes unappreciated, while my diversions into the world’s manifold pointless matters will often generate great interest and even joy. (If I were suddenly to dive into a quirky discussion of my fondness for pizza, and then reveal the simple secret to my own homemade sauce, to which many a guest in my home has marveled over the years, my guess is that this post might generate a few more “shares” than usual. Especially if it were accompanied by a flashy, upbeat, slightly quirky video showing how to make the sauce. )

The point to life is not how many folks love my pizza, how much fun people have at pizza parties my wife and I may throw, or even how many such parties we throw.

The point of my life is not how much money I make (or don’t make), or what kind of job I have.

The point of my life is not how many people read this blog, how many “share” it or how many even like it.

No, Paul so awesomely gave me (and all of us) the point of my life some 2000 years before I was even born. It’s so important, I hope you don’t mind if I type it again:

“that through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.”

Lord, please help me (and all of us) remember to stick to this Great Thesis for life.  I’m really glad my church has worship services on Wednesdays. I can’t wait to get back over there this week. Many some of my local friends reading this will want to join me? I can’t say it’s always “fun.” But it is always awesome.