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Living in the Heavenly Places

A common statement I hear among Christians is that it is difficult to keep one’s focus on a higher, spiritual plane. I struggle with this myself. But that should not be surprising since we are, after all, earthbound physical beings. We cannot see the spiritual world except through the eyes of faith, and we are surrounded by and constantly bombarded with the physical. We are in the world, and the world competes for much, if not most, of our daily existence. Just consider how large a portion of our thoughts and activities each day is taken up by things like work and/or school, career planning, recreation and relaxing, household chores, money management, dealing with problems, preparing meals, eating meals, sleeping, exercising, or just driving (for me lately its been shoveling the three-plus feet of snow we now have). All this is simply called “life.” And yet while we are in the world, we are not to be of the world. Our focus is to be on a higher spiritual plane. But the spiritual gravity of earth keeps pulling us down. That’s the dilemma.

The book of Ephesians is meant to free our thoughts from that spiritual gravitational pull of life on earth. It is unique among the New Testaments letters. Unlike the letters to the Corinthians, the letter to the Ephesians does not deal with any church problems. Unlike the Roman letter, Ephesians is not a doctrinal treatise meant to lay out foundational concepts. Unlike the letters to the Thessalonians, there is no mention of any specific events or circumstances occurring in the church in Ephesus (in fact, Ephesians could have been written to virtually any church, or to no particular church at all). And even unlike the parallel letter of Colossians, there is almost no mention of anything negative such as false doctrines or false brethren. Instead, the book of Ephesians, from its opening chapter, lifts the Christians up to a higher spiritual plane to look at all that God has planned and achieved for us in Christ Jesus (cf. Eph 1.3-14). Ephesians takes the highest tone of any New Testament book.

This high tone is seen in a recurring theme throughout the letter that is expressed in the phrase “the heavenly places.” It is in the heavenly places that we have every spiritual blessing (1.3), where Christ is seated at the Father’s right hand (1.20) and us with him (2.6), where the spiritual rulers and authorities exist (3.10), and where we battle against evil spiritual forces (6.12). Simply put, it is the spiritual realm. Paul, in this most unique letter, lifts us up to a higher spiritual plane, taking our focus off of this earthly existence to see life from God’s point of view, from the standpoint of his eternal plans for us in Christ Jesus. It is not surprising, therefore, that in this letter we have perhaps two of the greatest of Paul’s recorded prayers. In these he prays that the eyes of our hearts will be enlightened to see our true, heavenly existence (1.15-23) and that we will come to know the power of His Spirit and the extent of his infinite love (3.14-19). I see these wonderful, God-breathed prayers as God’s own prayer for you and me. True, earthly life is full of the physical, but it is possible to break free of that gravitational pull and soar in the heavens. May God lift us up to soar a little bit today.