“Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh indulging in the desires of the flesh of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ.” Ephesians 2:3-5
My small group has been studying the book of Ephesians. What I love about Ephesians is that this passage of God’s word reveals how great God’s love for us truly is. This week we looked at Ephesians 2: 1-10. In this passage we are reminded of our former life without Christ. We were dead in our trespasses and sins (verse 1). We walked according to the path of this world (verse 2). We lived in the lusts of our flesh, and we indulged in the desires of the flesh and of the mind (verse 3). And then an interesting line is added even as the rest. (verse 3). This really caught my attention because of this weekend’s message. The message if you missed it was about reaching our world for the kingdom, and it focused in on taking risks and meeting people where they are. The pastors shared that the harvest is ripe, and it may be within our reach to be the catalyst that brings someone to Christ. I was inspired and encouraged. And then I read this line…even as the rest. I feel like God is reminding us that we do have a past without him, and it is that past that might be what God uses in the future to reach the lost. We all have a story and as the pastors said this weekend, it might look different than my story… but it is your story… and in a way it is all of our stories. We were all dead in our sins. Going our own way. Dead on the inside until we heard His story. For some of us it only took one encounter with this Jesus. For others it took many more encounters… but what we all have in common is that he saved us. He saved us in our present circumstances, and he saved us for the age to come. And it is a gift… the gift of God. So we are not so different than those we need to reach. If we are honest with ourselves we have all walked the path of disobedience many times. But God being rich in mercy, because of his great love for us, even when we were completely dead in our sins, made us alive with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus (verse 5). We are now ” His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which he has prepared in advance for us to do (verse 10). So be bold… take risks… because God really does want to use our story to reach the “rest”
Blessings,
Jessica
Risks!
John Wimber used to say “faith” is spelled, R I S K.
Just catching up on reading emails. Thanks Jessica, this is impactful! I love this verse and how you explained the depth of it!