Ephesians 2:4 – 5 “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.”
My son sleeps like a rock. Seriously, when that boy is asleep, we can pretty much do whatever we want, because he’s not waking up! He is dead to the world. Sometimes in the mornings, when he finally arises, we joke, “He’s alive! He’s alive!”
In the previous verses, Paul said that we were dead in our sins. Now, he didn’t mean we were literally, physically dead. Rather, he meant that compared to the life that we could have in Christ, we might as well be dead. But here, Paul uses that all-important, tiny little word: but.
He says we were dead, but now . . . drum roll please. Friends, God loves us. He has wonderful plans for each of us to live rich and abundant lives, in Him. The lives we live without Christ are so far below God’s standard for living, that it isn’t really living at all. Without Christ, we might as well be dead. But because God loves us so very much, He made a way for us to experience life. Real, abundant, peaceful, joyful life.
And it gets even better than that. God doesn’t wait for us to be good enough for this great gift. Paul didn’t say, “When we reach a certain level of spirituality, God will make us alive.” Rather, while we were dead in our sins, God made us alive. Whew! That is some good preaching.
But it gets even better still! He says we are alive with Christ! Now, at some places in scripture, we are said to be alive in Christ. But Paul specifically uses the word with. We are alive with Christ, who will never leave us, never forsake us, never abandon us. We are alive with Christ, who will rejoice with us in the best of times and stay with us in the worst of times. In Christ, we have a friend above all friends. We have someone who loves us more than life itself, and who will never disappoint us.
And He invites you right now, this very minute, to wake up and start living.
Dear Father, Thank you for your grace and love, which allow me to experience true, abundant life.
Amen
It is amazing that we can experience so much, so great a love. EVERYONE wants and needs to be loved and it is there for the taking.
Praise God!
Amen, SueNell! 🙂
Love this. Great title. Great reminder.
Renae,
So glad you stopped by my blog! Thank you for taking the time to comment…it is great to meet you. 🙂 I’m a Texas girl and a PK and the wife of a minister (he is not in church work but another non-profit), so we have lots in common!
Great Scripture dive in this post. It looks like more than one of you in your house teaches the Word! 🙂 I’ll look forward to visiting you again, and I hope to see you back on my blog, as well. I usually post on Mondays, but I also usually wind up with something else to share during the week, as well.
Blessings, Renae!
Lisa 🙂
Thanks, TJ! Love you, love having you here.
Lisa, Thanks so much for stopping by! Will look forward to many exchange visits!
Great post Renae. I’ve left you an award.
Oh, wow, Jackie! Thanks! I’ve never received a “web” award before!
For those of you who would like to view my lovely award, you can go here:
http://motherspride-jackie.blogspot.com/
Congratulations on your award, girl.
You deserve it.
And I notice that you are getting lots of comments on your posts now, also richly deserved.
But you’re right: we don’t deserve the Love of Christ.
We don’t deserve it, but we have it if we will only reach out and take it.
Thanks for this reminder.
And thanks for your diligence in bringing the Word alive for us.
Jlo
Thank you, Judi. I love this “blogging through the Word” thing. With a pantry like this, there is no end to the feasts we can experience! (I borrowed that from somewhere, but can’t remember where . . . )
🙂