Read: Ephesians 1:3-14
"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, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory."
Our lives here on Earth are nothing but a speck in the vast wilderness.
I intended to start this way to immediately set the picture in our minds. A lot of us have fallen into the trap of thinking about ourselves to be bigger than life and being the center of everything. These thoughts have led us down to the long winding road of frustration, discontent, etc. until we realize that there is something much bigger than us. In fact, there is someone much bigger than all our lives combined. He is God and everything exists because of Him and for His glory. God is literally, the biggest picture of them all.
In Ephesians 1:3, we are reminded of this and that we are just the supporting details that are intended to glorify God more. In fact, without God at the center, we wouldn't even be qualified to be called "minor" details to this so-called picture.
Our salvation was never our achievement but it is an overflow of God's gracious love for us.
"even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will," (v.v. 4-5)
Romans 3:23 supports that our salvation is nothing that we can brag about because not even the best version of ourselves is enough to reach God's glory. God has planned out our lives with the goal of saving us through the blood of Jesus and by using our lives as testimonies to praise His name.
Our inheritance is obtained from God and is maintained through Jesus Christ.
"In him we have obtained inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will," (v. 11)
Our place in God's kingdom is secured in accordance with God's will and not by our talents, skills, and expertise. In fact, every capability that we have is made possible for glorifying God and even our disabilities are purposed towards letting God compensate for it. Also, our inheritance is preserved and guaranteed by the Holy Spirit up until such time that we have received it.
So you see, we are never the main picture to begin with. In fact, we are only made relevant when God is the main picture because God, in all of His glory, loved us so much that He sent down Jesus to die on the cross for our sins; ins that we did when we thought that our lives are better controlled when we were at the helm but again, we are never the main picture. God is.
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