We Americans put much emphasis on self-help. ''Self Reliance'' was one of Emerson's most popular essays. Please Mother, I would rather do it myself. We like thinking of ourselves as ''self-made'' men and women. Browse awhile at the ''Do It Yourself” section of your local bookstore or in the ''Self-Help'' therapeutic section and you will see that we like to do things for ourselves.

Yet Paul, in his words to the Ephesians, speaks of something which we have not done for ourselves, have not achieved by hard work, earnest endeavor, sly maneuvering, or burning the midnight oil. He speaks of our salvation, our relationship to God.

''Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," Paul opens his letter. God ''has blessed us." How has God blessed these new Christians? God ''chose us in C…