Daily Reading: Ephesians 1-3
Ephesians 3:8
Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
In October of 1986 I was not looking for the unsearchable riches of Christ. I was looking for a way to escape Hell and a way to gain Heaven. This had been on my mind for about a year; it was settled that night, kneeling by that bed in the Marriott Hotel in Knoxville Tennessee. Since then, I have enjoyed receiving the riches of Christ for which I could not even search, for the riches of Christ are unsearchable.
A person who trusts Christ as their personal Lord and Savior also receives His riches. While they may not search for those, in that they are unsearchable, they receive them, nonetheless. Riches such as peace in the soul, rest of the spirit, love unbounded, forgiveness granted, supernatural provision, and eternal life just to name a few. Riches that can neither be fully understood nor explained with the human tongue. For these riches, the riches that Christ offers, are unsearchable.
At a time when Peter had no money, yet knew that he had to pay a tribute (tax) in Capernaum, the Lord showed Peter His unsearchable riches. He told the Apostle to go to the seashore, cast out a hook, catch a fish, open the fish’s mouth, take out the piece of money that he would find there, and use that to pay the tribute. Peter was a commercial fisherman, never in his life had he seen, or even heard, of such a thing. You know, the Bible never tells us conclusively that Peter did that which the Lord told Him to do. We expect he did, but who knows; this was Peter after all.
Let’s say that Peter did. He goes to the seashore, casts out a hook, catches a fish, looks in its mouth, finds a piece of money, then pays the tribute. Afterward, Peter would have been as poor as he was before. He had no money, received money from a fish’s mouth, paid the tax, and still had no money. But he had something better, more enduring, he had a firsthand knowledge of the unsearchable riches of Christ. Never again would he need to worry about finances, His Lord would provide.
Let’s say that Peter did not go fishing. He would live the rest of his life not knowing of the unsearchable riches of Christ. This is where many live today. The unsearchable riches are there, they are available, but because of a lack of faith to obey all that the Lord tells them to do in His Word, they fail to see the manifestation of His riches.
True we will never be able to search out the unsearchable riches of Christ, but we can experience them. Later in this same chapter, Ephesians 3:20 Paul writes this: Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, This is the scope of the Lord’s riches, they are exceeding, abundantly, above, all that we can ask or even think. They are unsearchable.
Until tomorrow, live for Christ today.