When I was young, my mother used to caution my sisters and me, “Never say never.” When I became a mother, she advised against making promises to my children. In both cases, she was teaching me that it is not wise to deal in absolutes. You just don’t know what might keep you from fulfilling that promise. And sometimes I think that when we say, “Never,” God says, “Oh yeah??”
The Lord, however, does speak in absolutes, and in a world full of uncertainty, this should be a source of comfort to us.
He is the only accurate use of all those superlatives that are so common in our everyday language … He is the Ultimate Promise Keeper, the source of Extreme Mercy and Ultra Forgiveness. He is Forever, Always, and Infinity.
So I love all the absolutes that Paul uses in these verses in Ephesians. He says, “There is One body and One Spirit, just as you were called in One hope of your calling; One Lord, One faith, One baptism; One God and One Father of us All, who is above All and through All and in you All.”
The certainty and clarity in these verses brings me both joy and comfort. A dear friend of mine says that “all” means “all” and that’s all “all” means. By the same token, “one” means “one” and that’s the one thing “one” means.
It’s in Scripture. Read it, understand it, and rejoice in it. God does not exaggerate, nor does He estimate.
Light Expectations 