"Blessed" October 6 Readings: Jeremiah 15-16, Ephesians 1, Psalm 112:7–10, Proverbs 24:19–20

  

Reading the Bible in 2025

Each day this year, we will read a selection from the Old Testament, the New Testament, a portion of the Psalms, and a part of Proverbs. By the end of the year, you will have read the entire Bible. We read this way to give you a bit of variety. 

NOTE: If you get behind, do not give up. Read today's readings and try to catch up when you have a chance. The goal is not to "accomplish a task" but to meet God in his word. Read the word. Also, if you are short on time, READ GOD'S WORD and skip my devotional!

Bible Readings: Jeremiah 15-16, Ephesians 1, Psalm 112:7–10, Proverbs 24:19–20

    Scriptures linked to Bible Gateway in ESV version 

Daily Devotional: Blessed

I really need a blessing today; how about you? Maybe, if we are good, God will pour out more and more blessings on us today, more than he did yesterday.

That's the way we think, isn't it? We long for blessings. We seek blessings from Jesus. We struggle to attain blessings from him. We wonder what we have to do to get more of them. But there is a problem with this view - it runs counter to what God's word says in Ephesians 1:3.

Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ.

Did you see that? It says that God HAS (past tense) blessed us with EVERY spiritual blessing we can expect. I already have every blessing I will ever receive from God.  

The keywords in this passage appear here and several times throughout this section (verses 3-14) - two words that change everything. "In Christ." (Or, in him.) In him, we have every blessing God can give us. Why? Because Jesus doesn't give us blessings, he IS the blessing. When God gives us Christ, when we are "in him," we have everything we could want, everything we need. Our blessing is Jesus. 

What are some of those things we have "in Christ?" This passage tells us a few of them. 

• He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. (God chose us for his own and determined to make us blameless!)
• In love, he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will. (In Christ we are now part of God's heavenly family.) 
• In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace. (We are forgiven in Christ.) 
• Making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. (God has a plan to consummate history in Christ, and we are part of it!)
• In him, we have obtained an inheritance. (In Christ we inherit the riches of God's grace.)
• 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. (The Spirit is ours in Christ.)

So, when I have Christ, I don't really need anything else. He is all the blessing I will ever need. In him, I have all the blessings of eternity. 

Father, thank you for your great blessing, Jesus Christ my Savior and Lord. All I need from you I have in him. 

Consider God's Word:

Which of these four passages spoke most clearly to you today? 

Is there sin in your life that needs to be confessed and dealt with that was revealed in one of these passages? 

Is there something in your life that needs to change?

Is there a struggle in your life that one of these passages spoke to? 

Do you think of Christ as a means to an end, a way to get stuff from God, or do you realize that Jesus is the blessing you have from God?
Meditate on that principle today!