1 Corinthians 2:9 “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”
The context of this verse is the mystery of salvation through Jesus Christ. This was God’s plan from the beginning – to suffer and die in our place. He created mankind knowing we would choose to rebel. We can only love God because he first loved us, because he took the initiative to rescue us. If a man takes his eyes off Jesus Christ and begins to believe that life and true satisfaction can be found in self-exalting pursuits, then he is on a path leading in the opposite direction of what he truly longs for. But for those who love God, who live in gratitude, obedience, and dependence, God has prepared unimaginable blessings – in the world to come and here and now in this life.
Father, thank you for revealing your love in such a remarkable and inconceivable way – that you would bear the punishment and absorb the wrath for me. And you have so many blessings yet to lavish on your children who love you and follow you. Indeed, you have blessed me in countless ways. The more I have yielded to your will and the more I have put you first, the more you have poured out your grace, peace, joy, hope, and many other blessings upon me. You have made me a better husband and father than I could have ever have imagined possible, a better man at work, a better man at church and in ministry. You took a self-centered, overly ambitious young man and gently and persistently worked on me over these many years. Thank you for your patience and your overwhelming, unstoppable love for me! May I live today in anticipation of your guidance and direction for every interaction, every decision – for your glory.