BEING MADE ALIVE IN CHRIST!
I have to admit that it has taken me a long time to understand what it means to be made alive in Christ. Ephesians 2:1-3 makes a statement about our condition as we start out living in this world of transgressions and sin. The fact that we have all lived at one time in this condition with the craving of the nature of sin which seeks to destroy us should help us understand if we have completely accepted Christ just how far God has brought us in life.
As Paul writes to the church in Ephesus he tries to explain the process: Because of God's great love for us...God who is rich in mercy.... LOVE and MERCY; wow! These are the very qualities that begin us to be alive in Christ! It is without these qualities that we have been dead. It is love and mercy from God that has given us the chance to live for God has made us alive in Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions; all of it is done through our relationship with Jesus Christ as the Lord of our lives. It is through God's grace that we are saved for we can do nothing on our own...except for to make a choice who it is we will serve this day.
That should produce humility within us if we understand that process, but if we keep scratching and digging for our own kind of control in Christ we will never find life. We are raised to life through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the very breath that we breathe from the time we come to Christ should be the breathe that He gives us to bare witness with. God has expressed His grace through Jesus Christ and His kindness is covered as Ephesians 2:4-10 explains. None of what we have been given through works for the expressed purpose of not allowing anyone to boast, but I can also tell you that waking up in Christ is not an automatic thing either. It is not done by playing along with trying to memorize prayers or doctrines, or by attending church services. Becoming alive in Christ means that we actually start to seek after God in a real way everyday in our lives. For a long time I too went through the motions thinking that somehow Christ would just rub off on me like anything else I hung around. While people may accept you as a part of the church body because you are there all the time it does not mean that you have personally built a relationship with Christ...and that is the only thing that will make you become alive in Christ. Verse 10 tells us that we are the workmanship created in Jesus Christ to do good works which God has prepared us in advance to do, but those good works are simply bi-products of our relationship with Christ. Our whole spiritual creation has been designed to serve and love God;we simply have to reach deeply enough to reconnect with that first spiritual love. The studies we have done so far in Acts helps us to understand the relationship that God wants for us to have with one another, but our personal and individual connection to Christ must become so much deeper before we can ever love others with the love that we share with Jesus. I want to begin to look more closely at that kind of love and commitment this week...I pray that you will join with me. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
As Paul writes to the church in Ephesus he tries to explain the process: Because of God's great love for us...God who is rich in mercy.... LOVE and MERCY; wow! These are the very qualities that begin us to be alive in Christ! It is without these qualities that we have been dead. It is love and mercy from God that has given us the chance to live for God has made us alive in Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions; all of it is done through our relationship with Jesus Christ as the Lord of our lives. It is through God's grace that we are saved for we can do nothing on our own...except for to make a choice who it is we will serve this day.
That should produce humility within us if we understand that process, but if we keep scratching and digging for our own kind of control in Christ we will never find life. We are raised to life through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the very breath that we breathe from the time we come to Christ should be the breathe that He gives us to bare witness with. God has expressed His grace through Jesus Christ and His kindness is covered as Ephesians 2:4-10 explains. None of what we have been given through works for the expressed purpose of not allowing anyone to boast, but I can also tell you that waking up in Christ is not an automatic thing either. It is not done by playing along with trying to memorize prayers or doctrines, or by attending church services. Becoming alive in Christ means that we actually start to seek after God in a real way everyday in our lives. For a long time I too went through the motions thinking that somehow Christ would just rub off on me like anything else I hung around. While people may accept you as a part of the church body because you are there all the time it does not mean that you have personally built a relationship with Christ...and that is the only thing that will make you become alive in Christ. Verse 10 tells us that we are the workmanship created in Jesus Christ to do good works which God has prepared us in advance to do, but those good works are simply bi-products of our relationship with Christ. Our whole spiritual creation has been designed to serve and love God;we simply have to reach deeply enough to reconnect with that first spiritual love. The studies we have done so far in Acts helps us to understand the relationship that God wants for us to have with one another, but our personal and individual connection to Christ must become so much deeper before we can ever love others with the love that we share with Jesus. I want to begin to look more closely at that kind of love and commitment this week...I pray that you will join with me. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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