She Reads Truth: EphesiansSample

Ephesians 2:1-10 | “The Great Love” The first ten verses of Ephesians chapter 2 can be divided into two sections. The first is hard to hear: utter hopelessness. Death. And the second is difficult to comprehend: immeasurable riches. Life. And the words that divide them? The ones that make all the difference? “But God…” (v. 4) We were – each one of us – headed in one direction. Paul describes the natural state of every human being, Jew or Gentile, slave or free: We were “children of wrath” (v. 3), in active rebellion against God. We were subject to the evil rule of Satan, the “prince of power” (v. 2), completely incapable of changing our own state; in rebellion against God and exposed to His just anger. Like I said: hopeless, miserable, desperate. This is where we sat, each one of us, dead in our trespasses and sins, without hope of saving ourselves. Exposed to (and deserving of) the wrath of a holy God. And two words make all of that darkness – all of that hopelessness – go away. “But God” The One Who had the power – and every reason – to destroy us, loved us with an immeasurable, unfathomable, totally incomprehensible love. A “great love”, according to verse 4. And that love was so great, He not only took us from death to life, He “raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places” (v. 6). He made us “together with Christ” (v. 5), his perfect Son, free from the control of Satan. Paul even tells us why: so that in the coming ages, he can show us even more grace and kindness. So that the redeemed can be like their Redeemer: made alive, raised up, and seated with Him. Dear sisters, daughters of the King, write this on your hearts. Say it out loud – right now, where you are seated: “For by grace I have been saved through faith. And this is not my own doing; it is the gift of God.” (v. 8) And our response to this remarkable, holy, “But God” twist in the story? A life of obedience. Good works will spring out of us, not as a means of deserving the gift we’ve already received, but as a response to his “great love”. Click the link to join the conversation with the She Reads Truth community! http://bit.ly/SRTEphesiansDay3