Reading in Ephesians this a.m. I came across a word that raised my eyebrows, “Incomparable.”

Oh, by the way, this is a journal entry for me so if you don’t like the use of the word “I” or confession, I encourage you to go to your happy place where everything is beautiful and all the saints sing Kumbaya around a perfect little campfire. 😉

OK, back to it…

St. Paul uses this word three times in Ephesians. Here are the references:

• 1:17 – St. Paul is praying that we would come to know God’s “incomparably great power for us who believe.”

• 2:7 – He is teaching that God has graciously saved us from our destructive way of life and the consequences of it (both temporal and eternal) and given us a new life, “in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”

• 3:19 – St. Paul prays that we may, “know this love [of God] that surpasses knowledge– that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (“Surpasses” is the same Greek word that is translated “incomparable” in the other two verses.)

As I encounter these words I am humbled, frustrated, and excited.

• I am humbled that God has power, grace, and love for me that are incomparable by any measure. On my best days I’m pretty good. Far too often though, I’m a jerk who needs some pretty strong correction from my Heavenly Father. And yet in spite of how I view myself, or how others view me, my Father has LOADS of power, love and grace to give me.

• I am frustrated that I’m so distracted and busy that I regularly pass by these extraordinary offerings from my Father. What the heck am I thinking? While I don’t say these exact words, my lifestyle far too often says to God, “I’m sorry. I can’t accept your gifts of immeasurable power, grace, and love because I have a book to read, an e-mail to send, and a strategy to develop. I’ll get around to getting this gift at some other point.” That’s like (excuse the lame metaphor) passing up a filet mignon for a booger. What am I doing!?! GRRRRR…

• I’m excited because I know that God has invested so much in me, the child of His love, that He’s not going to pull His amazing gifts off the table any time soon (check out this verse!)! It’s not to late! I can still receive! I am repenting of my ridiculous oversight and and humbly coming to my loving, gracious Father with my hands out.

I realize that too often I live in the world of the antonym. My common experience with God is “mediocre” and “ordinary.”

My Father has invited me to live in the realm of the extraordinary… the incomparable… the unrivaled experience!

My friend, JR Lee, says that he wants to live in the realm of the unexplainable… I think that’s what God wants for him, me, and all who believe in Him.