I want you to think of any movie that you have seen where there was a super sad part and everything seemed to be going wrong. I picture the main character walking somewhere in the pouring rain and the main character just looks like he/she has been defeated. Do you know what I mean? It's always the worst part of the movie! It's so hard to watch and it's very unsettling.
These sort of things are what I picture how things once were. Before we are in Christ, we are just in a place where we follow the course of the world. We live in the passions of our flesh, and carry out the desires of the body and the mind, and we are by nature, children of wrath. Just like the characters in movies having a tough time, that's how our lives are until we are saved.
When those scenes happen, it really seems like there is not hope right? When we face those tough times in our own lives, we sometimes feel like there is no hope. But good news, that is how things once were.
"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ-by grace you have been saved-and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is a gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:4-10)
"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ." I really love that. When we were dead in our sins and our transgressions, Christ made us alive together. So when things were once bad, Christ, being rich in mercy, made us alive together.
By grace through faith we have been saved and raised up with him and started with him in the heavenly places of Christ Jesus, so that in the coming of ages he might show us the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness towards us. Do you know what immeasurable means? Something that literally cannot be measured. When something is immeasurable we cannot wrap our minds around it. That motivates me. To know that someday we will be able to experience something immeasurably more.
Things were not well at all, and through faith, we can be saved! This isn't anything that we do. God does't need us to do anything for him. God loves us and wants us. He wants me and he wants you. We don't have to do a bunch of fancy things in order to look good on this earth to get to heaven. God wants our hearts. He wants us to spend eternity with him someday.
Being saved by grace through faith is a gift from God. It's not a result of our works because works can easily cause us to boast. Jesus is the best gift that we could ever receive.
I challenge you to think about how things once were. Maybe how things once were for you. Were you dead in your transgressions and following the desires of the flesh? If so, what is your life look like now? Do you recognize that we have been saved by grace through faith?
No comments:
Post a Comment