"To the praise of his glorious grace"

My next question: What is the plan and purpose for our life? I'd like to go back to where this adventure all began in Ephesians, this time I'm looking at Ephesians 1:

3 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, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.


11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

"To the praise of his glory," this is our purpose. The phrase is repeated, meaning Paul is stressing the importance of this phrase.  In the original Greek language there was no upper or lower case lettering, no punctuation, no bold or italics; in order to stress certain points the authors would repeat words or phrases. I believe this is definitely the case with Ephesians 1:3-14. In verse 6 we see, "to the praise of his glorious grace," and then "to the praise of his glory," in verses 12 and 14. When trying to determine our purpose this verse stresses the importance of all things being for God's glory.

The other phrase we see approximately 8 times throughout this verse is, "In him" or "In Christ." "In him" we are chosen or predestined to be "holy and blameless" by being adopted as sons through his Son Jesus Christ. "In him" we are released from and forgiven of sins by his grace. "In Christ" we discover God's mystery plan as verse 10 states, "to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth."  He will accomplish this "in him" by sealing us with the Holy Spirit, "who is the guarantee of our inheritance."

So what do I think about this?  I'm filled with joy and peace, not because I live the "holy and blameless" life that is worthy to bring God glory but because through Christ I am presented as "holy and blameless".  This is cliche but I do have a past that I am not proud of.  I lived for my own satisfaction and my own glory by giving into temptation and living of this world.  But God revealed himself to me, he called me to repentance, he adopted me as his own and filled me with the Holy Spirit in order for my life to praise his glory.  My life isn't perfect.  I still have days where I want to live for me or I get stuck on worldly things, but God is faithful in reminding me in whom my faith needs to remain.  Through prayer and scripture my hope is that my heart continues to point towards Christ and all of his glory.

Our purpose, isn't really "ours" at all. Its God's purpose, God's plan. All things are done "in him" for "the praise of his glory". AMEN! Thanks to God our Father who works all things "to the praise of his glorious grace"!