“God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord. Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence. So please don’t lose heart because of my trials here. I am suffering for you, so you should feel honored.”
What do you think of when you hear the word “church”? Maybe you picture a great cathedral, or stained-glass windows, or a steeple. Perhaps you think of holidays or a place you see your friends every Sunday morning. In the Bible, “church” is not a building or a place, but it is the word for the collective body of Jesus-followers. God has chosen this “church” to reveal his wisdom to the supernatural realms. Verse 10 is easy to gloss over quickly, but pause to take it in. We are displaying God’s wisdom to those in the unseen realms.
Pausing on that thought reminds me of a word Paul has been using quite a bit in this letter: mystery. We have almost no real concept of how God’s plan is fully playing out in the supernatural realm. We see glimpses, part-truths, but we cannot comprehend God’s plan or even how he is using us to fully display his glory.
Here’s your freedom for today: we can come to God with bold confidence. God has given us access to himself and permission to come. We are part of his active work — we are participants in an eternal and supernatural story. Our boldness is not because we are worthy, but because he has chosen to love us and include us and make us worthy. Why should we wonder what God thinks of us? He is not sizing us up to see if we are good enough. He simply says, “Come on in!” and we walk through the door in prayer, unaware of just how many supernatural dominoes that starts tipping over.