Dear Children

How Rich Are You? Discovering the True Wealth Found in Christ
There is a question worth sitting with before you read another word: How rich are you?
Your mind may have gone immediately to bank accounts, property, or financial security. That is a natural place to land. But there is a deeper kind of wealth being considered here, one that has nothing to do with what you have accumulated and everything to do with who has claimed you. The apostle Paul captured it plainly in 2 Corinthians 8:9, where he describes how Christ, though he was rich beyond measure, willingly became poor so that through his poverty, we might become rich. That is not a metaphor about money. That is a declaration about the staggering generosity of a Savior who gave everything so that we would lack nothing.

The question is not whether this wealth exists. It does. The question is whether you are actually living like someone who has received it.

The Father's Love Is the Foundation
Ephesians chapter 1 opens a window onto something that the human mind simply cannot fully take in: the love of God the Father. It is unfathomable. There is no measuring it, no reaching the bottom of it, no finding its outer edge. Before the world was ever spoken into existence, before a single breath was drawn, the Father already knew you. He had already set his love upon you. That kind of love does not waver based on your performance or fade when you fall short.

Ephesians 5:1 carries this thought forward in a way that is both simple and breathtaking. It calls believers the dear children of God. Not distant acquaintances. Not servants on probation. Dear children. Think about what it means for the Creator of everything to look at you and use that kind of language. It means he has done everything, provided everything, and that his care for you is personal and intimate.

This is the foundation of the Christian life. Not striving to earn a place in God's affections, but resting in the reality that you already have one.

You Are Not Working to Be Saved, You Are Working Because You Are
One of the most liberating truths in all of Scripture is found in Ephesians 2:8-10. Salvation is a gift. It comes through faith, not through effort or merit. No one can stand before God and point to their own goodness as the reason they belong to him. The Bible is clear that all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. There is none good, not one.

But here is where the story turns. We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. The works do not come first. The salvation does. And once you have been made new, once Christ is living in you, the good works flow from that reality rather than straining toward it. You are not doing good things to earn God's love. You are doing good things because you already have it, and because a life transformed by grace naturally produces fruit.

Jesus said it directly in Matthew 5:16, where he calls his followers to let their light shine before others so that people would see their good works and give glory to the Father in heaven. The goal of a life well-lived is not personal recognition. It is the glorification of God. That reframes everything. Every act of kindness, every moment of integrity, every sacrifice made in love becomes an act of worship.

The Graces That Grow in a Surrendered Life
The Beatitudes in Matthew 5 describe the interior life of someone who is genuinely following Christ. They begin with being poor in spirit, which means arriving at the honest recognition that on your own, you have nothing, you are nothing, you can do nothing, and you need everything. That is not a discouraging assessment. It is a liberating one. Because the moment you stop pretending you have it all together, you open yourself to the one who actually does.

The apostle Peter builds on this in 2 Peter 1, where he describes a progression of spiritual growth: faith leading to virtue, virtue to knowledge, knowledge to self-control, self-control to perseverance, perseverance to godliness, godliness to brotherly kindness, and kindness to love. These are not qualities you manufacture through willpower. They are graces that the Holy Spirit cultivates in a life that stays surrendered to Christ. And when they are present and growing, Peter says, they keep you from being barren or unfruitful in your knowledge of Christ.

This is what it looks like to grow rich in the things that actually matter.

The Holy Spirit Is Not a Bonus, He Is the Whole Point
The Christian life cannot be lived in human strength. Paul makes this clear throughout his letters, and it is worth stating plainly: the natural person cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God. They are spiritually discerned. This means that apart from the Holy Spirit working in you, the Christian life is not just difficult, it is impossible.

But God did not save you and then leave you to figure it out alone. The Holy Spirit is the gift given to every person who places their faith in Jesus Christ. He is the one who authored Scripture, and he is the one who makes it come alive in you. He equips you with the full armor described in Ephesians 6, truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, the Word of God, and prayer. Every piece is a provision. None of it is earned.

The Blessed Hope That Anchors Everything
The resurrection chapter, 1 Corinthians 15, ends with a declaration that thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, followed immediately by a call to be steadfast, immovable, and always abounding in the work of the Lord. The reason you can be unmoved is because the outcome is already settled. Christ has conquered death. He has gone to prepare a place. He is coming again.

That is the blessed hope. And it changes how you live today.

So again, the question: How rich are you? If you have Christ, the answer is that you have everything that matters, now and forever.