–Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly (Ephesians 3:2).

I do this.

I’ll be in the middle of telling someone a story, and then I’ll think of some important piece of information that they really oughta know if they’re going to fully appreciate the story, so I’ll go off on a little verbal side trip to supply the needed facts.

Of course, sometimes my side trips are so long that I forget my original destination.

That’s what Paul does here. Not the forgetting part, but the side trip part. Mid-sentence, he realizes  that some of his readers may not be familiar with his background, so he pauses to bring everybody up to speed. I love this. It reminds me that, though Paul’s writing was inspired and directed by the Holy Spirit, it came through the conduit of an actual real human being.

God working through his people, with all the quirks that entails.

Anyway, somehow Paul manages to drop the bomb that God has communicated the greatest secret of the universe directly to him while sounding humble about it. He speaks of grace, and revelation, and points out that this magnificent truth was given for their benefit.

Meaning our benefit

Meaning your benefit

I gotta tell you–I probably would have found some way to take at least a little credit here.

Which is probably why Paul is Paul, and I am Michael.

God loves you. He crafted the grandest plan in all of forever to bring you to himself, and then he shared the secret with you.

Because he loves you–did I say that already?

Happy Tuesday, Beloved.