I love the beginning words, for every Christian these are like gold!
And He made you ALIVE.
You are alive, you are a living creature, you are not some machine having to be pushed to and fro, you have a choice. You are alive and kickin'! You may not be kicking very high, but at least you are kicking!
Then he goes on to say, exactly what God took you from, and what your former death really looked like. Remember just a bit ago, how I said that you were not a machine being pushed to and fro?? Well, that is what your former death was like. You had no choice, at first, Satan told you to do something, and you did it. Afterwards, it was natural, he barely had to nudge you. You saw sin, and you knew nothing but that sin, so to it you went. So he mentions all of these things that we as Christians were, and it looks pretty bad.
But, God jumps in. God, He who is rich in mercy because of His love. Not just any love. His GREAT Love. Now, where Paul says that He made us alive with Christ. I don't know if that is simbolisiom, or if he meant that when Christ rose from the dead that the Sacrifice had come to completion. So, we were made alive with Christ. I honestly don't have any other theories on that. Let me know what you think!
God raised us up, we are, in truth, vile disgusting people. But God raised us up, and made us righteous in His eyes. He did this, as we saw in the last chapter, because it brings Him pleasure. He wants to show us His grace, and how far it abounds. For we have been saved by Grace, and NOT by works. Because if we could have achieved Righteousness by works, then why in the world, would we even care about Jesus???
I love this next verse:
For we are, HIS WORKMANSHIP. We are His, He made us! We are His masterpeice, the pinnicale of creation. We are His image bearers. We were created for good works.
So, here is my challenge to you, and myself. Start living your life, striving for those good works. Not to earn your way to heaven, please no! But because it pleases God. We are His image, and if we let that image become more vivid, then more people might come to Him.
As David Platt said in His book Radical, bringing someone to Christ is "A cause worth living for, and a cause worth dying for."
Thanks for reading,
John Mark,
And He made you ALIVE.
You are alive, you are a living creature, you are not some machine having to be pushed to and fro, you have a choice. You are alive and kickin'! You may not be kicking very high, but at least you are kicking!
Then he goes on to say, exactly what God took you from, and what your former death really looked like. Remember just a bit ago, how I said that you were not a machine being pushed to and fro?? Well, that is what your former death was like. You had no choice, at first, Satan told you to do something, and you did it. Afterwards, it was natural, he barely had to nudge you. You saw sin, and you knew nothing but that sin, so to it you went. So he mentions all of these things that we as Christians were, and it looks pretty bad.
But, God jumps in. God, He who is rich in mercy because of His love. Not just any love. His GREAT Love. Now, where Paul says that He made us alive with Christ. I don't know if that is simbolisiom, or if he meant that when Christ rose from the dead that the Sacrifice had come to completion. So, we were made alive with Christ. I honestly don't have any other theories on that. Let me know what you think!
God raised us up, we are, in truth, vile disgusting people. But God raised us up, and made us righteous in His eyes. He did this, as we saw in the last chapter, because it brings Him pleasure. He wants to show us His grace, and how far it abounds. For we have been saved by Grace, and NOT by works. Because if we could have achieved Righteousness by works, then why in the world, would we even care about Jesus???
I love this next verse:
For we are, HIS WORKMANSHIP. We are His, He made us! We are His masterpeice, the pinnicale of creation. We are His image bearers. We were created for good works.
So, here is my challenge to you, and myself. Start living your life, striving for those good works. Not to earn your way to heaven, please no! But because it pleases God. We are His image, and if we let that image become more vivid, then more people might come to Him.
As David Platt said in His book Radical, bringing someone to Christ is "A cause worth living for, and a cause worth dying for."
Thanks for reading,
John Mark,
very good
ReplyDeletewell said
thanks