Broken World Beautiful Gospel
Reflections on Ephesians
So its my birthday! whoo yay for not being on my parent’s health insurance anymore! (jk I’m so sad) But I’ve been in a really reflective mood, just thinking about how so much has changed in the past year but the thing that really helped me was being able to recognize the beauty of God in the midst of the pain. Like you’re favorite song or a stunning sunset, God isn’t beautiful for what he can do, he is breathtaking for who he is. If we have eyes to see, when we look to him, God gives us the gift of Him— not a means to an end, but and end in and of himself. The manifestation of his presence is also known as Glory and It. Is. Beautiful. I discovered this truth 3 years ago when studying Ephesians, before I wrote the Light Point Book and it changed my life. For the last 6 days, I’ve hosted an Ephesians bible study challenge on the Light Point IG because it is my deepest desire that others see the beauty I’ve come to know. It can be found in the Gospel, and it changes everything. Below are my reflections. Happy reading!
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The thing that allows Ephesians (and really all of scripture) to point to the beauty of God (if you have eyes to see it) is the fact that it reveals the bigger picture of God’s redemptive work in ways that are intimate and immediately relevant to our lives. I read Ephesians when I was in a season of deep brokenness. All the pain, shame, fear, and insecurity that I had been managing my whole Christian life came bubbling to the surface, and I was utterly undone. When I turned to scripture, I saw a God who was not only with me in the midst of my brokenness but actively fighting for my healing. Ephesians gave purpose to my pain, exposing the larger reality that I was not alone and although my situation was not unique, I was uniquely loved and chosen by God.
Moreover, I had access to a solution set in motion since the foundation of the earth (Eph 1:4). God is a God of order and unity. That is the very principle by which he exists as God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: 3 in 1. It is also the principle by which he not only made creation with a word but kept it all functioning in glorious unity with the same word. He designed his creation to fundamentally reflect the unified love that existed in the Godhead, and it was good because it was whole and harmonious (Gen 1). The creation bore the image of the creator. We were beautiful because God was beautiful. However, through Adam and Eve, sin entered the world, and we found ourselves with a nature that is inherently opposed to God—the source and sustainer of our very lives. In other words, we found ourselves in conflict with the Creator and all other creatures. Without the unifying power of God, all hope of restoration back to the wholeness God created us for was lost. We were broken. (Eph 2:1-2)
The truth of this is not hard to see if we open our eyes and look around. To live in a fallen world means to live in a Word that tears individuals, families, communities, and societies apart by its very nature. That’s what sin does. It causes us to be in conflict with ourselves. Anxiety, pride, depression, insecurity, and shame literally divide us internally so that we are at war with our own minds and emotions. But that brokenness—that sin—is greedy. Uncontent to remain trapped in the confines of one individual, it reaches out and corrupts everything it touches, causing jealousy, bitterness, rage, selfishness, and neglect in relationships with family, friends, and anyone else we meet. The brokenness in me reaches out and touches the brokenness in you so that I continue to replicate the separation from the father that stands at the root of all that is wrong with the world. Broken people, then, create systems and structures to protect their fragile power. The financial, economic, social, and governmental systems make a world where everything around us seems designed to destroy us. The good things fill us up only to leave us empty; brokenness is the norm, and there appears to be no escape. (Eph 2: 3, 4:17-19, 5:3-6, 12)
But God.
God, in his infinite mercies, orchestrated a cosmic plan to right all that was wrong, to make us beautiful once again. (Eph 2:4-10) We could not have wholeness outside of him, but by nature, we refused to come to him, so He came to us. God entered into broken humanity as Christ Jesus to reconcile us to himself by the power of his spirit. Although reconciliation with God was the first and most crucial step, it was not the last because God’s mission was never to simply pluck us from this broken world, abandoning it to self-destruct. His mission was to redeem it all through unity with Christ. (Eph 3:1-13) By the blood of Jesus who died and rose for our sins we are reconciled to the father.
In God and God alone, the internal brokenness of our mental and emotional states is healed, making us whole humans, able to operate from a paradigm of generous abundance, not insatiable need. The cracks have been filled by the one we were made for. Glory.
Only God can heal the brokenness in our relationships. The greedy darkness of sin cannot compare to the irresistible invitation of light. The truth of God illuminates the root of the tension, causing us to view each other through the lens of grace and bringing restoration back to broken communities.
We are united in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. As a church, we carry the light of the living God (2:21-22). The light of our union then flows out into the earth, creating an entire world filled with the reign of peace. This is the kingdom of God (Eph 4:1-16)
If this sounds idealistic to you, ask yourself why you would expect the creator of the universe to orchestrate a plan for anything less than ideal and why a real enemy wouldn’t fight tooth and nail to ensure we never even apprehend, much less embrace this reality. (Ephesians 6:10)
However, in Christ, we have access to the radical hope of this eternal reconciliation project before it is fully realized. We are in the “already, not yet” era of salvation history. The final fulfillment of the Kingdom of God has begun. In this future Kingdom, all will be set right, returned to wholeness, and established in a new era of unity with God, . Until every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus is Lord, this Kingdom has yet to be realized (Philippians 2:9-11). However, as those who have seen the light, we must live in the radical realm of hope and faith.
The cosmic mission God has orchestrated is so large, but if it is true, it changes everything about how I understand my day-to-day reality. It reveals that while I am in the fight of my life to live whole in a broken world, I have already won the victory (Eph 6: 10-13). It calls me to live now as though what I have seen is confirmed by the power of the Holy Spirit. This truth does not cause me to ignore the actual physical, psychological, and structural issues that exist around me; instead, it equips me to engage with the backing of Heaven. It allows me to perceive reality more clearly and prioritize unity in every sphere of my life.
Unity with my God, myself, and my community is how I participate in the mission of God. The weapons of my warfare are how I fight to defend the light of this truth against any demon in hell that would try to drag me back into the darkness. I know what I carry now. I have put on the armor of new life. Therefore, I am strong enough to face anything by the power of the Holy Spirit (Eph 6:10-20). I stand with Christ in the midst of the darkness, and the darkness cannot comprehend me. I am light. and THIS is beautiful.