Alive in Christ

When I think back to the years before I came to know Christ in a meaningful way, I shudder at my behavior and my habits. I knew Christ from an early age, but He did not matter to me. My actions testified to that fact. Not only was I not very nice to be around, I didn't even like myself.

I often wondered why I was ever born, what possible purpose was there for me in this world? Have you had these feelings?

The thing is, once I had a desire to change and felt like I really needed to change, it was as if God heard my heart.  I know I didn't pray and ask Him to do anything, but He did it anyway.  Perhaps He looked back over my life and declared it was time; that I was ready for Him to intercede. I also know that I had a grandmother who was praying for me. This fact, which I recognized after she left this world, probably is the reason God grabbed me by the hand and showed me how to turn around.!!

He truly is a Life Changing King!

Ephesians 2:4-5 (NIV)
 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. 

How do these words make you feel? I get very excited when I read them and understand they were meant for me.  Even while I was dead from the sin in my life, God made me alive with Christ.  As I stated above, it wasn't any prayer I uttered, but it was totally by God's grace I was changed, I was saved.

Do you have a salvation story to share?  We are supposed to share our story with one another - tell the Good News to the world, shout it even!

Read Ephesians 2:1-10

God Wants You

Uncle Sam wants you!

 

When I was a teenager, with the United States engaged in the Vietnam War, these were words of concern. It meant you might be drafted. There was a draft lottery. Birthdays were randomly selected, and 18 year olds whose birthdays came sooner were more likely to be drafted than those whose birthdays came later. And this was televised in some years!

 

The draft ended before I turned 18, a sense of relief, perhaps. Had I been drafted I would have fulfilled my obligation.

 

Today’s reading is Ephesians 2:1-10. St. Paul addressed the Christians in Ephesus. He reminds them of their spiritual life. They were dead in their sins, but thanks be to God, rich in mercy he made them alive in Christ.

 

Paul continues, “…it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God’s workmanship,  created … to do good works.”

 

God chose the Ephesian Christians, and he chose me, too.

 

1500 years before Paul wrote, Moses documents the fact that God chose the Israelites  to be a “royal priesthood and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:3-6). God could have chosen the mighty Egyptians or the powerful Phoenicians or even the soon-to-be “thoughtful” Myceneans (predecessors to the Greeks in Athens). Instead, he chose a lowly tribal community.

 

Why did God choose the Israelites, the Christian Ephesians and I? We don’t know, but we do know that it pleased God to do so.

 

Like the Isrealites, I am undeserving and lowly. Yet I was chosen, “to do good works." What great joy!

 

 What are these good works? To love the Lord, to love my neighbor as myself and to make disciples of all nations. God called me through his church. Now that I am part of his church, I am priviledged to carry out his will through the church.

 

If Uncle Sam had called me, I would have gone, perhaps begrudging. When God called me, I went, not begrudgingly, but joyfully!

Ephesians 2:1-10 - We ascended, too

When I think back to the years before I came to know Christ in a meaningful way, I shudder at my behavior and my habits. I knew Christ from an early age, but He did not matter to me. My actions testified to that fact. Not only was I not very nice to be around, I didn't even like myself.  I often wondered why I was ever born, what possible purpose was there for me in this world?  Have you had these feelings?

The thing is, once I had a desire to change and felt like I really needed to change, it was as if God heard my heart.  I know I didn't pray and ask Him to do anything, but He did it anyway.  Perhaps He looked back over my life and declared it was time; that I was ready for Him to intercede.  I also know that I had a grandmother who was praying for me.

Ephesians 2:4-5 (NIV)
 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. 

How do these words make you feel? I get very excited when I read them and understand they were meant for me.  Even while I was dead to the sin in my life, God made me alive with Christ.  As I stated above, it wasn't any prayer I uttered, but it was totally by God's grace I was changed, I was saved.  Do you have a salvation story to share?  We are supposed to share our story with one another - tell the Good News to the world, shout it even!

Read Ephesians 2:1-10

Listen to Ephesians 2:1-10