“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3)

Paul opens the letter of Ephesians by giving thanks to God for all the blessings He has given us as His people in Christ. But Paul’s list of blessings may differ greatly from what we might typically give thanks for.

Our list of blessings is often something like: thank You for a good night’s sleep; for our food; for good health; for my family; for my job; etc. And it is not “wrong” to be thankful for these things; we SHOULD give thanks to God for them. But we should also realize that there are greater blessings which should have an even more prominent place in our thanksgiving: the spiritual blessings God has given us in Christ. Paul lists them in this section:

— being chosen to be holy and blameless before Him :4

— adoption as sons through Christ :5

— redemption through His blood :7

— being granted the mystery of His will :9

— an eternal inheritance :11

— the seal of the Holy Spirit in our hearts :13-14

These are amazing blessings, the possession of every believer in Christ. And unlike some of the other more temporal blessings which can change or be taken away, if we are “in Christ Jesus”, these spiritual blessings never vary from day to day. We can give thanks for them every day without fail, for they are always ours! On our worst day on earth as a Christian, we still have so much to be thankful for. We can always pray together with Paul: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.”