While working this morning, with Chris Tomlin’s version of “I Stand Amazed in the Presence” playing in the background on Spotify, my mind immediately went to Paul. The one in the Bible. As a person who appreciates proper grammar and spelling (I’m sure it’s mostly because I do so poorly in all, seriously all, other subjects), I admit I give Paul a pass when needed. His run-on sentences are my favorite. I love that when he talks about Jesus, his thoughts interrupt his thoughts. He can’t help but have one long sentence … because to him it’s ALL about Jesus!

Of course, when it comes to long sentences, Paul certainly isn’t the worst. Some of us are just tooooo wordy. One blogger put it this way: “Sometimes, if you have something important that you’d like to say, and you want to write it down so that others can look over it and study it and ponder it and maybe even share it with others, it’s possible to get into the rut of writing your sentences too long and drawn out, because you have a lot that you want to communicate and it’s right there at the front of your mind all bunched together, hard to sort out, so you just start writing and it just keeps coming and you’re not sure where to put the period and where to start a new thought because it’s all one big thought for you and so you keep writing …”
Yeah. My thoughts exactly. 🙂

At the beginning of Paul’s letter to the church of Ephesus, Paul is writing to the church about the lavish grace of God through Christ. He deeply desires that they realize that what they have in Christ had great significance for all people – everywhere in every time. I read in several commentaries that in the original Greek, verses 3-14 are actually one sentence. Or should I say “is” one sentence? Anyway, the crux of it is this: Paul gets so excited about Jesus he can’t stop writing. So, this morning I stand amazed in the presence of the One who gives me cause to throw out all grammatically correct philosophies and worship Him with reckless abandon. And that is why I sing… How marvelous! How wonderful! And my song shall ever be. How marvelous! How wonderful is my Savior’s love for me.