Every blessing, in Christ

17 Mai 2026

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. - Ephesians 1:3

In Swansea, very occasionally I would venture to the gym in Llansamlet. It was a fantastic gym with punch bags, weightlifting equipment, cardio machines - everything you'd need to develop your strength and fitness. Despite how wonderful the gym was, something had to be for all this wonderful equipment to be of benefit to a person - you had to be in the gym (despite paying my membership, this was the bit that I struggled with!). If you're not in the gym, no matter how wonderful the provision is, it is of no benefit to you. You have to be in the gym to make use of all their incredible facilities, and if you were in the gym, you had a feast of fitness aids to choose from!

Without actually being in the building, the gym and all its wonders was of no use to a person, but to the person who got in the building, everything was available to them for their good, to strengthen them.

We can think about the way that God the Father bestows his spiritual blessings on people in a similar way. Without being in Christ, all of God's incredible spiritual blessings are of no benefit to a person, but to the person who finds themselves in Christ, the Lord showers his blessings abundantly - every spiritual blessing. The new birth, forgiveness of sin, justification, adoption, sanctification, joy, peace, the final healing of our bodies, our eternal inheritance, the glory of the age to come - these blessings are ours only in Christ, but in Christ they are ours in abundance!

In a more fitting picture than being in a gym, Paul teaches that marriage is an earthly union which point us to a greater heavenly union, that of Jesus and his church (Eph 5:22-23). When a husband and wife are married, they become one flesh and hold all material things in common. When a person places their faith in Jesus and is joined to him, that person becomes one with the Lord in Spirit (1 Cor 6:17), who holds all spiritual things in common with them. The Lord Jesus shares with us what is his! [1] Because Christ is the Son in whom the Father delights, the blessed man (Psalm 1:1), the one blessed from eternity by the Father, we too are blessed when we take refuge in Him (Psalm 2:12), as we receive those spiritual blessings which are his own.

Questions for reflection

1. What do these things teach me about God?

   
   

2. How should these things shape my thinking today?

   
   

3. What does it look like for me to live in light of these things today?

[1] Michael Reeves, How to be happy in Christ (Matters of the Heart, part 2), https://www.unionpublishing.org/resource/matters-of-the-heart-2-how-to-be-happy-in-christ-michael_reeves/