“I am less than the least of all God's people; yet God gave me this privilege of taking to the Gentiles the Good News about the infinite riches of Christ,” (Ephesians 3:8)
This was written by Paul. He had been a persecutor of the early church even going so far as obtaining documents to go to Damascus to arrest Christians and return them to Jerusalem to be executed. But Jesus met him on the way to Damascus. (Acts 9:3-18) It’s a beautiful work of the Lord that changed the enemy of the church into its most fervent and dedicated child of God, which may be why he states that he’s the least of all God’s people. Paul writes to Timothy: “I give thanks to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength for my work. I thank Him for considering me worthy and appointing me to serve Him, even though in the past I spoke evil of Him and persecuted and insulted Him. But God was merciful to me because I did not yet have faith and so did not know what I was doing.” (1Timothy 1:12-13)
Paul mentions the “infinite” riches of Christ. In other translations it’s “unsearchable” riches and “boundless” riches. “Since we are His children, we will possess the blessings He keeps for His people, and we will also possess with Christ what God has kept for Him; for if we share Christ's suffering, we will also share His glory.” (Romans 8:17) These blessings are infinite, unlimited and unimaginable. Our natural minds cannot comprehend all of God’s Goodness.
To just name a few, at the moment of salvation, we are translated into God’s kingdom of light, truth, peace, love and joy. We receive immediate forgiveness and eternal life. We are spared God’s wrath, receive the righteousness of Christ and are transformed into a child of God. We are given the Holy Spirit to indwell as a guarantee of His promise. And we have received every spiritual blessing. “Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! For in our union with Christ He has blessed us by giving us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly world.” (Ephesians 1:3)
But the riches of Christ are not only for heaven and spiritual. We receive blessings in this world in the now also including grace in our lives. “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” (3John 1:2KJV) The gift of the Holy Spirit is the most important blessing we can have in this world. It’s He Who gives us wise counsel.
The Holy Spirit is our teacher and helper. “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you everything and make you remember all that I have told you.” (John 14:26) And Paul writes to the Corinthians about the Holy Spirit. “But it was to us that God made known His secret by means of His Spirit. The Spirit searches everything, even the hidden depths of God's purposes.” (1Corinthians 2:10) The Holy Spirit is the source of every revelation, wisdom and power. He guides us to know all truth and knowledge of what is to come. Jesus speaking said, “When, however, the Spirit comes, Who reveals the truth about God, He will lead you into all the truth. He will not speak on His own authority, but He will speak of what He hears and will tell you of things to come. He will give Me glory, because He will take what I say and tell it to you.” (John 16:13-14) The Holy Spirit gives us gifts to use for God’s Will and Purposes. “The Spirit's presence is shown in some way in each person for the good of all. The Spirit gives one person a message full of wisdom, while to another person the same Spirit gives a message full of knowledge. One and the same Spirit gives faith to one person, while to another person He gives the power to heal. The Spirit gives one person the power to work miracles; to another, the gift of speaking God's message; and to yet another, the ability to tell the difference between gifts that come from the Spirit and those that do not. To one person He gives the ability to speak in strange tongues, and to another He gives the ability to explain what is said.” (1Corinthians 12:7-10) God seals us His children by the Holy Spirit. “And you also became God's people when you heard the true message, the Good News that brought you salvation. You believed in Christ, and God put His stamp of ownership on you by giving you the Holy Spirit He had promised.” (Ephesians 1:13) He helps us pray. “In the same way the Spirit also comes to help us, weak as we are. For we do not know how we ought to pray; the Spirit Himself pleads with God for us in groans that words cannot express. And God, Who sees into our hearts, knows what the thought of the Spirit is; because the Spirit pleads with God on behalf of His people and in accordance with His will.” (Romans 8:26-27) The Holy Spirit helps us live holy lives. “What I say is this: let the Spirit direct your lives, and you will not satisfy the desires of the human nature. For what our human nature wants is opposed to what the Spirit wants, and what the Spirit wants is opposed to what our human nature wants. These two are enemies, and this means that you cannot do what you want to do. If the Spirit leads you, then you are not subject to the Law. What human nature does is quite plain. It shows itself in immoral, filthy, and indecent actions; in worship of idols and witchcraft. People become enemies and they fight; they become jealous, angry, and ambitious. They separate into parties and groups; they are envious, get drunk, have orgies, and do other things like these. I warn you now as I have before: those who do these things will not possess the Kingdom of God. But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control. There is no law against such things as these. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have put to death their human nature with all its passions and desires. The Spirit has given us life; He must also control our lives.” (Galatians 5:16-25)
And in the end, the Holy Spirit who raised Christ from the dead, has the power to raise us up also. “But if Christ lives in you, the Spirit is life for you because you have been put right with God, even though your bodies are going to die because of sin. If the Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from death, lives in you, then He who raised Christ from death will also give life to your mortal bodies by the presence of His Spirit in you.” (Romans 8:10-11)
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