Believers love, obey, trust, worship, enjoy, and serve Christ in everything. As they do, they look ahead to an eternal future where they will see Christ face to face and live with him forever.

Paul’s Prayer

Believers who know God should always want to know him more, to be where he is, to meditate on his loveliness. We can never have enough of God. And as the next verses of Paul’s prayer will show us, God has depths that will take an eternity to discover.

having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
—Ephesians 1:18–21

Paul now prays for God to grant the Ephesians three areas of knowledge: the hope of God’s calling, the riches of God’s inheritance, and the greatness of God’s power toward them. These are spiritual truths, and it requires spiritual eyes (“the eyes of your hearts”) to appreciate them. As in Paul’s earlier doxology of praise, the beginning and end of our new spiritual life is God. Our salvation reveals truths about ourselves and truths about salvation’s benefits, but its ultimate lesson is about our glorious Lord.

The first way Paul wants the Ephesians to grow in their knowledge of God is by understanding the hope of their calling. Remember, throughout this prayer, he has in view both head knowledge and heart knowledge. The Ephesians need to be sure of the facts of their calling, and they need to experience the hope that their calling gives. A believer’s calling is the invitation from God to follow Christ. Unlike a human invitation to a party or a concert, which invitees may either accept or decline, God’s calling is effectual: The people he calls will come to him (see John 6:37). The first disciples abandoned nets and boats to orient their lives around Jesus (Luke 5:1–11); similarly, all those whom God calls step into a completely new life and don’t look back. Believers love, obey, trust, worship, enjoy, and serve Christ in everything. As they do, they look ahead to an eternal future where they will see Christ face to face and live with him forever. Compared to the futility and meaninglessness of life apart from Christ, the called life is deeply hopeful.

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