Will I regret my decision?

Is there someone else better out there?

He ascended on high and took prisoners captive;
he gave gifts to men.

What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended
into the lower regions of the earth?
The one who descended is also the one who ascended
far above all the heavens,
that he might fill all things.
(Ephesians 4:8-10)

If you’re picking a plumber, a barber, or a grocery store, their resume of experience takes us beyond mere introduction. You likely found a person, service, or merchant from a reference, but that only opens a door. A skeptical attitude quickly kicks in. What can you believe about their pitch? You want to know where they’ve been, how long they’ve been in their career, and what sets them apart from others.

The more serious relationships require extensive references and vetting. Do they only care about themselves? Do they bad-mouth former clients behind their backs? Do they speak ill of their peers, avoid conflict, and pass off difficulties as someone else’s fault? Will they take proper care of me?

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We go through a variety of processes to arrange our necessary partnerships and collaborators. Things we can’t do ourselves force us into giving over ourselves, our assets and treasures, to another. Most of us will put off dependencies, especially folks like dentists, financial advisors, and soul mates.

Except for garbage collectors and pilots, we won’t give up our belongings or place our lives in the hands of anyone without severe consideration. Is there someone else better out there? Am I just taking the easiest, cheaper option? Will I regret my decision?

Picking our God is no different a process, but one vastly more consequential.

The scriptures of the Jews and Christians offer a complete picture of God as a creator Trinity, willing to become one of us, and the texts provide intimate details about himself and his plans for us.

These few verses in Chapter 4 of Ephesians follow Paul’s descriptive definition of the God he’s pitching to believers of a Greek god, one with a poor track record and little mercy. At this point, Paul elevates the discussion to the experience of Jesus in the combined realms of creation and Heaven. Jesus left the holy place of Heaven to become a “lower” being, a human inside the created universe. Has any other god done this?

Jesus lived according to the scripture prophecies, then died and entered the place of the dead. His existence precedes his earthly history. He exercised his oft-repeated rescue plan there to gather the righteous of millennia who awaited his arrival midst the throes of the evil one. He then rose from the dead and, with witness accounts over 40 days, ascended back into heaven, reattaching this broken earthly existence. He instituted a restoration channel to the immortal regions. No one other than the creator could do this.

The processes of vetting Jesus, from his sacrificial life and death to his cataloged resurrection and ascension back to Heaven, provide his credentials. Paul, though, prepares his listeners to submit to this divine being who became a man because his mission includes wonderful gifts for every living being — that he might fill all things.

Jesus doesn’t promise wealth, fame, and power here, none of which he arranged for himself. He promised entry into a Heaven beyond the stars and galaxies with gifts which we skeptics and callous can find of no earthly value.

And he gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers.

Paul continues from this segue, a vetting of Jesus as the only God who can provide for us, by identifying those things of eternal value.

So I declare and testify in the Lord that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds; darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance, because of their hardness of heart, they have become callous and have handed themselves over to licentiousness for the practice of every kind of impurity to excess.

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one God unmatched by any other, so, Paul explains, turn to Jesus.

“. . . you should put away the old self of your former way of life, corrupted through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth.”

We try out our vendors, contractors, services, and experts with trepidation. We do so also with God. Because we practice these temporary relationships necessary to survive and thrive, the experience of God’s merciful response to our submission is no less worrying or frightening.

His graces and love, however, will win us over if we find apostleship, prophecy, and evangelizing the holy, life-giving work that fulfills us here for the reward of immortal joy.