This Is What You Are Made Of

Before the first flower bloomed, or the first human cried, God sowed all “the riches of grace” into the blueprint of creation. Grace was God’s plan all along. And that grace has a name – Christ. ​

Tomorrow, the Christian Church celebrates the Feast of Epiphany. By definition an epiphany is a moment of sudden revelation. In Christianity, that revelation is a divine revelation that announces the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles.

Epiphany is often told and celebrated by recalling the story of the Magi visiting the new born king (Jesus) in Bethlehem. And sometimes it is told through the story of Jesus’ baptism.

I like to think epiphanies can happen in ordinary moments too. They can pop up immediately while watching a sunrise. Or gradually appear over the course of a friendship.

​I am sure if you gave it some thought, you could recall a moment when God revealed some great truth to you.

One of those moments for me, came as I studied the theology of Paul. Especially in the prolog of his letter to the  church in Ephesus. ​

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, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace  that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
​                                                                                                                 - Ephesians 1:3-10 -

It’s 2025. Can you believe it? When 2000 rolled around, and Y2K was our greatest threat, I never thought I would be where I am today. I’m sure you’re probably thinking the same.

I was a Creative Director in an advertising agency, selling new cars. Or whatever product was given to me. I had no children. And no desire to be a minister, even though I secretly knew I was destined to be both. My life was a bit wild and reckless to say the least.

Looking back at that wild period in our history, I wonder how any of us made it this far. The best answer simply would be to quote Paul, who said it was by the grace of “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us.”
 
Paul tells us, before the foundations of the world, God set this blessing in motion, so we’d be holy and blameless before God in love.

Before all the messes we’ve made or the trouble we found ourselves mixed up in, before our parents conceived us or their parents conceived them, Paul declares, “God destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ.” And God did this simply for “the good pleasure of his will.” 
 
Before the first flower bloomed, or the first human cried, God sowed all “the riches of grace” into the blueprint of creation. Grace was God’s plan all along. And that grace has a name – Christ. 
 
Paul writes, God “has blessed us in Christ.” The Apostle uses this term, “en Christo,” or “in Christ” over 216 times in his epistles. He most often uses it to reveal our union with God, teaching us that our identity, actions, and being are all rooted in God’s love and grace because we are in Christ.
 
Richard Rohr understands the term en Christo as “a codeword for the gracious, participatory experience of salvation.” He argues because we’re made in Christ, we are never separated from God. Christ is the proof that God chose us long before we chose God.
 
Which means Christ wasn’t sent into the world to save us from something we did, but to draw us closer to the source of our being. “We are all in Christ, willingly or unwillingly, happily were unhappy, consciously or unconsciously.”  Because God initiated this, we can live holy and rightly before God “who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing.”
 
It might seem obvious, but spiritual blessings are different than material ones. A person can have great material wealth and be deficient in love, joy, peace, goodness, or any other Spiritual fruit. When our focus is on material wealth, we lose sight of what God abundantly offers. How many times last year did you utter the phrase, “If only I had”? If only I had more money. If only I had a better job. If only I had someone to love.
 
There’s nothing wrong with dreaming big dreams or achieving big goals, as long as we don’t lose sight of the fact that we already have all that we need to obtain those things. In Christ, we are heirs to all the blessings of God’s eternal love. Our job isn’t to keep up with the Jones, but to follow the Spirit of Christ that dwells within us.
 
Yet we still choose to chase after meaningless things – selling ourselves short to belong to some team or tribe. We seek more likes, more followers, we live and die by other people’s opinion. Being a part of things and enjoying a good life is fine, but God has greater goals for you and me. Goals that were set in motion before the earth’s foundations, when God made us “the focus of his love.” ​

 
We belong to God. We are holy and beloved. I believe this is what Paul means when he writes, “In Christ, we have obtained our inheritance.” Adopted by God because that’s God’s will for us.
​
Our greatest blessing is that God loves us no matter who we are or what we’ve done. For that to happen, God sowed grace into creation itself. That grace is the gift of Christ within us, who draws us closer to the One who calls us his beloved.
 
Henri Nouwen taught, “If you dare to believe that you are beloved before you are born, you may suddenly realize that your life is very, very special.” God didn’t choose you for the team because of some ritual you did or prayer you said. God built the team around you – redeeming you and consecrating you from the get-go.

We are in Christ, and Christ is in us. Which means we can live and glorify God in love, without guilt or shame. Talk about a great epiphany!
 
To think God’s love for us reveals not only God’s greatest power made manifest in Christ but it also reveals God’s greatest vulnerability.

What do I mean by that? In order for God’s love to be unconditional like scripture declares, God has to be gracious with God’s own self. Despite whatever we divinely created creatures can do, God’s love must be greater than God’s disappointment, anger, or wrath.
 
Of course, this goes against a lot of fundamentalist Christian teachings that state Christ was sent to fix the problem of sin that snuck in and shook-up God’s plan.

​Personally, I don’t think God’s original design was flawed. Or that God made some kind of mistake that needed correcting. Instead, God made Christ manifest in us so the idea of sin wouldn’t even be an issue. God came to us in human form to show us a way to live rightly and blameless before God.
 
Jesus understood this. He knew he was blessed and consecrated by God, and lived that blessing fully and faithfully. At his baptism, when the heavens opened and God declared “This is my beloved son” Jesus reacted by dedicating the rest of his life to love us, and to reveal to us our own belovedness. 
 
God’s grace isn’t about correcting a divine mistake. It’s given to us, in Christ, to make us aware of our true, divine selves, and to move us forward towards God’s heart, to dwell in God’s eternal love. 
 
This should be a great epiphany for anyone who was told they’re going to burn in hell for all eternity because of who they are or who they love. The mysteries of God’s will, according to Paul, have been “made known to us, according to God’s good pleasure set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather all things in heaven and on earth.” 
 
In Christ, are united together with God. In Christ, we receive the blessings of God’s gracious mercy and forgiveness And in Christ, we stand before God in love. 
 
In Christ we are made, and in Christ we are sent into Anamesa bearing the fruits of the Spirit, in all the ways we love God, love others, and serve both. 
 
This is where our faith in Christ helps us to achieve the faith of Christ who sees others as God does. And loves them all the same. Let us enter this new year, with a new focus on being like him living in loving awareness to all that God has given to us.
 
Let us take our spiritual blessings to awaken the world to God’s glory. And become the epiphany for others to discover who they are - God’s beloved.

 
 
Work Cited:
Nouwen, Henri. You Are The Beloved: Daily Meditations for Spiritual Living. Convergent Books: 2017.
Rohr, Richard. The Universal Christ: How A Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope For, and Believe. Convergent Books: 2019.