Wow...it has been too long! Haha...almost 20 days ago was my last post! Sorry about that, by the way, but it has been a crazy past month! I am back at school for CA (RA) training and that has kept me busy every day we have been here! Students come in on Saturday and I am sooooooo stinkin' EXCITED!!! I am praying that God would do incredible things on this campus this year and I know that He is going to be faithful in those requests!
Something that I kind of stumbled into in my time with the Lord in these past couple days has been thinking more and more about the process of sanctification. Sanctification means "to be set apart from" or "become holy". Obviously in my walk with the Lord this has been a huge part of my prayer life; I have prayed often that God would make me more holy and help me live the way He wants me to....and that has been the extent of my sanctification process.
As I was traveling through scripture these past couple days and listening to various sermons I have come across this idea of discipline in sanctification. Now this seems like a pretty simple thing to discover or come across, but I had never really put much thought into it before. I had always assumed that if there was any trace of my own effort in trying to become more holy, it was illegitimate because it was being done in my own power. I would just pray for holiness and sanctification and continue living the way I was living. This IS NOT how sanctification works!!! There is a discipline element to growing in godliness; it never just occurs. No one just wakes up and knows the Scriptures and prays constantly...it is to be worked at.
Before people start jumping down my throat, just hear me out...but I think there needs to be more effort on our ends in the sanctification process. Not effort in our own power, but effort through the Spirit, only by the power of Christ...grace-driven effort. The only effort that will matter is if God allows us, by His grace, to do those things and Him making us more holy.
Look at John 5:14...Jesus has just healed a man and has run into him again. Jesus gives him an odd warning; "stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." Jesus tells the man to stop sinning! But wait a second....I know what you are thinking...as a sinful human being I cannot just stop sinning! Its in my very nature to do so! When Jesus says "sin no more", he doesn't mean on your own. He is saying "Look what I've done! Wake up! I've come into the world to save sinners, I've come into the world to change things. LOOK to me; KNOW ME! And in the power you have just experienced, fight your sin! Fight, through the strength and Spirit I have given to you." Another example...
In Colossians 3:5 Paul instructs the Colossians to "put to death" their sinful nature. In the Greek, this is a command of action; a direct command to murder. God is telling us in this verse that we need to murder those things that hinder us. He is saying put to death sexual immorality, lust, greed, idolatry because if we do not do something about these "little sins" we are creating in our own souls a climate ripe and ground fertile for "varsity sins". The reason we need to violently attack even the "small sins" is because they create this enviornment conducive to the growth of sins that will destroy and harm not only our souls, but slander the name of God and wound and hurt all of those around us.
John Piper talks about this idea of putting to death of our sinful nature:
"The only possible attitude toward out of control desire is a declaration of all out war. I hear so many Christians murmuring about their imperfections and their failures and their addictions and their shortcomings and I see so little war! Murmur, murmur, murmur...why am I this way? MAKE WAR! There is a mean, violent streak to the TRUE Christian life. Violent to whom or what? Violent on every impulse in our souls to be violent to other people. Violence of mean streak in Christianity against our own selves and all in us that would make peace with sin and a settling in the peacetime mindset. A violence against all lust in ourselves. All enslaving desires for food, caffeine, sugar, chocolate, alcohol, pornography, money, the praise of man, approval of others, power, fame...this is our enemy! This is where we make war! It is a violence against all racism in our souls, all sluggish indifference to injustice in our souls. A violence against all indifference to poverty and abortion. The only foothold Satan has in your life is your flesh and your sin. Nobody goes to Hell because of Satan, the only reason we go to Hell is sin. Much more than fighting Satan is fighting sin. My biggest enemy is not Satan...my biggest enemy is John Piper, and he is the only reason I will go to Hell, not Satan. Satan doesn't have NEARLY that kind of power! Christianity is not a settle in, live-in-peace-with-the-world-the-way-it-is-religion like most Christians live their daily lives."
I agree %100 with Piper in that we all live these lives, not knowing or not wanting to face the reality that we are at war. We are at war with demonic forces and we are at war with ourselves and our sinful nature! It is about time that we pick up our swords and learn to fight; learn to swing!
Not only do we need grace-driven effort in bringing violence against our sin but we also need it in getting in the word, praying, memorizing scripture, etc. All of these things do NOT come easily and will most likely NOT happen over night. What do you think is the reason Paul says to "LABOR with him in prayer" and "TRAIN yourself in godliness" and "be on your GAURD; STAND FIRM in the faith; be men of courage; BE STRONG"? Its because he knows that it is not easy and that it is going to take EFFORT and a lot of it! Effort that cannot come from you or me, but only by the grace of God and only when we ask for it.
No one stumbles into godliness...
Let me repeat that...
NO ONE STUMBLES INTO GODLINESS!
Holiness doesn't just happen over night...it is something that is to be worked at and chased after. We need to be actively pursuing righteousness. If you are doing nothing today in regards to godliness and if you are tolerating the sin in your life, today's sins will beget more sin later. And while you are allowing it to grow and flourish, you are also suppressing sanctification and godliness to grow in your life. We must have a devotion to these things, making them disciplines in our lives to grow in holiness.
Father, I pray that we could go to you for our strength. I plea that you would allow us to strive toward you, Lord. We know that we can do nothing without you and trying to develop godly habits without you is impossible. I beg, God, that you would cultivate in us a desire to grow in holiness and I request that you give us the means necessary for that process. Give us yourself, Lord...give us your Spirit so we can act upon what we learn from your Word. I pray that we could take it from learning and put it into action. God give us the strength.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
WordsWordsWords....
Today I was thinking back to my time spent in San Diego, specifically about some really funny memories and stories that I have collected. I thought about how all the staff members had a BLAST dressing up for the Staff Hunt, fun games with sticky hands, and other games concerning fruit salad! But the one that stuck out to me the most today was a game coined 'Copy!'. In this game whenever someone says something that could very easily be taken out of context and maybe even thought badly of, someone else in the room who hears can call out "Copy!" Then, whenever the 'copier' wants to, they can call out "Paste!" and the person whose comment was 'copied' then needs to repeat what their 'copied' statement was, no matter how ridiculous and no matter what the context! Think of copy and pasting like in a word document.......OK, sounds a little childish, but it is so much fun and gets some good laughs! It also makes you more aware of the things that you say.
We use words every single day; we express love, hatred, praise, complaints, everything through words. In one of my favorite movies, 'V for Vendetta', the main character describes words: "While the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth." In short, words are POWERFUL. Whether we want to admit that or not, the words that come from our mouths are more powerful than we even think.
Our words have a drastic effect on the people around us in both positive and negative ways. King Solomon writes in Proverbs 16:27-28 about words used negatively:
"A scoundrel plots evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire. A perverse man stirs up dissension, and a gossip separates close friends."
This really reminded me of how sarcastic I can be sometimes. Whenever I use sarcasm, I almost IMMEDIATELY regret it, because even if I am "just joking" there always seems to be a bit of truth to every sarcastic comment I make. Whether the comment is hurtful to someone or just reveals my real attitude in the situation, it always gives me and others a little window into what is really going on in my heart. I mean, its exactly like Jesus says in Luke 6:45, "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks." You can tell if you are filled with the Holy Spirit or walking in your own power and flesh by what the overflow of your heart is! Its as simple as that, friends! But, like everything, there is a flip-side...the positive to it all.
Like I said, words are stinkin' powerful! I can name a million times when I've used words to hurt others, put them down, try to pull the speck out of a brothers eye (and forgetting the log in mine), gossiping about others...I could go on and on about all the negative things I have used words for, but they can also be so influentially positive. Words of affirmation and encouragement are INCREDIBLY powerful in someone else's life. Speaking words of wisdom and truth from God's Word is an AMAZING encouragement to others along with our personal encouragements for them. King Solomon says in Proverbs 16:23-24:
"A wise man's heart guides his mouth, and his lips promote instruction. Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones."
Mmmmmmmmmm...I won't spoil that one with my over abounding personal explanations. Let's just leave it at that...Amen!
Brothers and sisters, I pray that we could think of ourselves in a constant game of 'Copy!', always watching what we say. I pray that we could realize when we are walking in our own strength and pray to be filled with the Spirit. I pray that we can be careful of what we say to others. Even if we are "joking", I really want us to take an honest look to see what our words are revealing about the conditions of our hearts. We can choose what we are going to use our words for, let's choose to use them for the good of others and to the glory of God. Amen.
"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."
---Ephesians 4:29
We use words every single day; we express love, hatred, praise, complaints, everything through words. In one of my favorite movies, 'V for Vendetta', the main character describes words: "While the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth." In short, words are POWERFUL. Whether we want to admit that or not, the words that come from our mouths are more powerful than we even think.
Our words have a drastic effect on the people around us in both positive and negative ways. King Solomon writes in Proverbs 16:27-28 about words used negatively:
"A scoundrel plots evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire. A perverse man stirs up dissension, and a gossip separates close friends."
This really reminded me of how sarcastic I can be sometimes. Whenever I use sarcasm, I almost IMMEDIATELY regret it, because even if I am "just joking" there always seems to be a bit of truth to every sarcastic comment I make. Whether the comment is hurtful to someone or just reveals my real attitude in the situation, it always gives me and others a little window into what is really going on in my heart. I mean, its exactly like Jesus says in Luke 6:45, "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks." You can tell if you are filled with the Holy Spirit or walking in your own power and flesh by what the overflow of your heart is! Its as simple as that, friends! But, like everything, there is a flip-side...the positive to it all.
Like I said, words are stinkin' powerful! I can name a million times when I've used words to hurt others, put them down, try to pull the speck out of a brothers eye (and forgetting the log in mine), gossiping about others...I could go on and on about all the negative things I have used words for, but they can also be so influentially positive. Words of affirmation and encouragement are INCREDIBLY powerful in someone else's life. Speaking words of wisdom and truth from God's Word is an AMAZING encouragement to others along with our personal encouragements for them. King Solomon says in Proverbs 16:23-24:
"A wise man's heart guides his mouth, and his lips promote instruction. Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones."
Mmmmmmmmmm...I won't spoil that one with my over abounding personal explanations. Let's just leave it at that...Amen!
Brothers and sisters, I pray that we could think of ourselves in a constant game of 'Copy!', always watching what we say. I pray that we could realize when we are walking in our own strength and pray to be filled with the Spirit. I pray that we can be careful of what we say to others. Even if we are "joking", I really want us to take an honest look to see what our words are revealing about the conditions of our hearts. We can choose what we are going to use our words for, let's choose to use them for the good of others and to the glory of God. Amen.
"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."
---Ephesians 4:29
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Lamp To My Feet...Light For My Path
Sometimes when getting in time with the Lord in singing songs, prayer, and getting into His Word, things can get dry for me. Sometimes it is just difficult to WANT to do those things, to DESIRE to have them be apart of my every day routine. I think the majority of this happens when I am dealing with the Word.
Something I vow to do with my life is be real with people...so, here it is...sometimes I get bored with the Word of God....there I said it! Let the silent judgments come forth. But, seriously, sometimes I just can't "get into it" and it seems like I am wasting my time when I am not doing it wholeheartedly. So I put it down and don't look back...that is until some sin from my past comes creeping back to the forefront because it sees my defenses are down and I am vulnerable. It always seems that when I do slip into those past habitual sins it is largely because I was not getting in the Word.
Lately I have been praying through the 22 stanzas of Psalm 119, and it has been AMAZING! Psalm 119 is all about God's Word and how important it is in our daily lives. By praying the contents I feel as if I am expressing true heartfelt admiration to God, who has so lovingly bestowed this great gift on us. Its his very words to us! How stinkin' awesome is that?! From praying through this chapter God is developing a fervent yearning for my personal life to reflect the loveliness and goodness displayed in this book. I now not only want it to, but I NEED it to shape my character into that of God's character. To rely on him and his Word for my life to reflect His forgiveness, His grace, His love; making me into a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).
I am seeing things in here that I have read over a hundred times before, but are now becoming more and more clear to me in different ways. Example... 1 Corinthians 13, everyone knows this one or has seen part of it written on some Midwestern household wall decoration ("Faith, Hope, Love"; "Love Never Fails", etc). Since I have been praying through Psalm 119, 1 Corinthians 13 has taken brand new meaning and power in my walk with the Lord! Not only reading how magnificent and wondrous his redeeming love is, but actually feeling it more and more throughout my day!
Another...even just the title of this entry, "Lamp To My Feet...Light For My Path", this is what God's Word has become for me this past summer. I have been turning to it for every decision, praying that God would reveal something, anything to me in it! And He has proved Himself faithful yet again, showing me the desires of His own heart for my life. It has become my lamp to light my way through this life and my shield against the flaming arrows the evil one slings my way.
This psalm reflects the view that the Lord, who abounds in steadfast love and faithfulness and who therefore freely and fully forgives his people when they confess their sins, loves his people without limit, and therefore also guides the faithful in the way of life that is genuinely good and beautiful. It speaks the language of one ravished with moral beauty, to which there is only one fitting response...to try and reproduce this beauty, as much as possible, in one's daily life. There is no pretense of perfection here, only yearning, and trust, and dependence on God. He is the one who does the changing in our lives, not us. We only need to submit to him and his Word.
I pray that we can all see how vital these words are in our lives. This is not just a book, people! This is the LIVING, ACTIVE, WORD OF GOD!!! It convicts us, rebukes us, shows us of God's love, mercy, and grace for us! It is the gospel, the GOOD NEWS! Praise the Lord that he has granted us such an amazing gift! He has given us everlasting life through these words...praise be to His name, forever. Amen.
Something I vow to do with my life is be real with people...so, here it is...sometimes I get bored with the Word of God....there I said it! Let the silent judgments come forth. But, seriously, sometimes I just can't "get into it" and it seems like I am wasting my time when I am not doing it wholeheartedly. So I put it down and don't look back...that is until some sin from my past comes creeping back to the forefront because it sees my defenses are down and I am vulnerable. It always seems that when I do slip into those past habitual sins it is largely because I was not getting in the Word.
Lately I have been praying through the 22 stanzas of Psalm 119, and it has been AMAZING! Psalm 119 is all about God's Word and how important it is in our daily lives. By praying the contents I feel as if I am expressing true heartfelt admiration to God, who has so lovingly bestowed this great gift on us. Its his very words to us! How stinkin' awesome is that?! From praying through this chapter God is developing a fervent yearning for my personal life to reflect the loveliness and goodness displayed in this book. I now not only want it to, but I NEED it to shape my character into that of God's character. To rely on him and his Word for my life to reflect His forgiveness, His grace, His love; making me into a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).
I am seeing things in here that I have read over a hundred times before, but are now becoming more and more clear to me in different ways. Example... 1 Corinthians 13, everyone knows this one or has seen part of it written on some Midwestern household wall decoration ("Faith, Hope, Love"; "Love Never Fails", etc). Since I have been praying through Psalm 119, 1 Corinthians 13 has taken brand new meaning and power in my walk with the Lord! Not only reading how magnificent and wondrous his redeeming love is, but actually feeling it more and more throughout my day!
Another...even just the title of this entry, "Lamp To My Feet...Light For My Path", this is what God's Word has become for me this past summer. I have been turning to it for every decision, praying that God would reveal something, anything to me in it! And He has proved Himself faithful yet again, showing me the desires of His own heart for my life. It has become my lamp to light my way through this life and my shield against the flaming arrows the evil one slings my way.
This psalm reflects the view that the Lord, who abounds in steadfast love and faithfulness and who therefore freely and fully forgives his people when they confess their sins, loves his people without limit, and therefore also guides the faithful in the way of life that is genuinely good and beautiful. It speaks the language of one ravished with moral beauty, to which there is only one fitting response...to try and reproduce this beauty, as much as possible, in one's daily life. There is no pretense of perfection here, only yearning, and trust, and dependence on God. He is the one who does the changing in our lives, not us. We only need to submit to him and his Word.
I pray that we can all see how vital these words are in our lives. This is not just a book, people! This is the LIVING, ACTIVE, WORD OF GOD!!! It convicts us, rebukes us, shows us of God's love, mercy, and grace for us! It is the gospel, the GOOD NEWS! Praise the Lord that he has granted us such an amazing gift! He has given us everlasting life through these words...praise be to His name, forever. Amen.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
The Greatest Short Phrase In The History Of Human Speech
I have made it a habit that every day I constantly pray that God would continue to show me how vast and how deep my sinfulness REALLY is and to give me a larger view of His glory/love/mercy/grace/holiness. In asking for these things, He has been faithful. He continues to provide me with a larger view of my sin and a larger view of Himself. I have been realizing these things more and more by the grace of God alone. Just the other day I was reading through Ephesians 2:1-5 and I would love to share with all of you what God has been teaching me.
"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience---among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ---by grace you have been saved."
---Ephesians 2:1-5
This passage can be broken up into two sections. Verses 1-3 are all about Man's Plight and verses 4-5 are about God's Provision. Now if we break this passage up this way, lets pick it apart according to those two sections. First, we have Man's Plight:
Friends, this first section reveals to us that as human beings we are in one heck of a pickle! These three verses show us that we are in more of a crisis, in a more urgent situation than any of us can ever imagine. We are in more trouble then if we were being held at gunpoint and watching as our friends and family were enduring torture. We are in more hot water then if we were drowning under a three-foot thick sheet of ice in a lake, our lungs burning for air. We are in an even larger extremity than if we were stuck on the 100th story of the Twin Towers on 9-11; having the choice of being burned alive by the jet fuel or jumping out our office window to our deaths. This is our plight:
Human beings as sons and daughters of Adam enter this world spiritually dead (Psalm 51:5). We have absolutely no inclination or responsiveness toward God and no ability to please Him. From the moment we enter into this world, we are alienated or cut off from Him because of what our father Adam did in the beginning. His sin is passed on to us all (Romans 5:18-19) and has condemned us all. The text says we were "dead in our trespasses" meaning we have trespassed somewhere. That somewhere was God's boundaries. We have seen God's perfect Law and have stepped outside of that, thus, we have sinned. We have offended God in thought, word, and deed.
We have followed the ways of this world and have been deceived by it. We have been deceived by the ruler of the kingdom of the air, Satan. Not only has Satan deceived us (2 Corinthians 4:4), but he also dominated us. We were his servants and slaves; captives to the evil one (John 8:44). We were "sons of disobedience" because we obeyed every word of poison that fell from his lips and rebelled against the one holy and true God. Whether in obvious or subtle ways, we disobeyed God and gratified the cravings of our flesh and sinful nature. Paul also says that we were "children of wrath". This means that because we disobeyed God and served Satan, were were subject to God's condemnation; the condemnation and judgment that we rightfully deserved (Ephesians 5:5-6). We were dead, deceived, dominated, disobedient, and doomed for eternity.
If you are not a follower of Jesus Christ, then you are still in jeopardy of a more dangerous predicament then you can possibly conjure up yourself and I strongly suggest listening to this next part. If you are a follower of Jesus, you WERE in this urgent situation. You were dead, but now made alive. You were condemned, but now you are justified through the blood of Jesus.
Friends, there is absolutely no worse condition than this....
It seems that this passage is pretty depressing....
And then comes the greatest short phrase in the history of human speech....two words that change EVERYTHING!!!
Take a look at verses 1-3 again. If you are a believer and follower in Jesus Christ, in the fact that He is fully God and fully man and came into this world to pay the penalty for your sins, then these three verses used to describe you. That is past tense, my friends! That was you....
No hopeless fate looks any grimmer than that which awaits the forlorn company of mankind marching behind the "prince of the power of the air" to their destruction under divine wrath. Just when things look the most desolate, verse 4 comes out of left field...
Now look at verse 4 again. What are the first two words?
"But God..."
BUT GOD!!!
The greatest phrase ever uttered out of one man's lips!
In just these two words the hopelessness and depression in the first three verses disappears without a trace! In these two words, we are brought out of darkness and have a way out of our quandary!
Paul goes on to tell us of three attributes of God that save us from total, eternal separation from Him. This section is all about God's Provision for the situation we find ourselves in. It describes his rich mercy, his great love, and the vastness of his grace. God's mercy on us, his helpless enemies, flows from his own loving heart, not from anything that we have done, but because he LOVES us (Ephesians 3:18-19)! God "made us alive together with Christ"...he gave us regeneration or new spiritual life within us (Ephesians 2:10; Ezekiel 36:26, 37:1-14). It is by nothing that we can do, but only by God's grace that we are brought from death to life!
If I could sum up the main thing I have pulled from this passage it would be this:
"Until you know your spiritual condition apart from the love, mercy, and grace of Christ, you will not and cannot appreciate the transformation God has led you to."
If you are not a follower of Jesus Christ, I pray that God will penetrate your heart with this blog entry. I pray that you will recognize the state that you are currently in and that you can do NOTHING by yourself, that you need God to save you from yourself and this world around you. And for those who do know Jesus as the Lord of their life, brothers and sisters, I pray that we can all recognize the state of disaster that we were in when we were apart from Christ. And more importantly, I pray that we can acknowledge and appreciate that God has taken way our sins and the sting of death, giving us eternal life with Him. I pray that we can give Him every ounce of the glory and praise Him for the rest of our days. Amen.
"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience---among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ---by grace you have been saved."
---Ephesians 2:1-5
This passage can be broken up into two sections. Verses 1-3 are all about Man's Plight and verses 4-5 are about God's Provision. Now if we break this passage up this way, lets pick it apart according to those two sections. First, we have Man's Plight:
Friends, this first section reveals to us that as human beings we are in one heck of a pickle! These three verses show us that we are in more of a crisis, in a more urgent situation than any of us can ever imagine. We are in more trouble then if we were being held at gunpoint and watching as our friends and family were enduring torture. We are in more hot water then if we were drowning under a three-foot thick sheet of ice in a lake, our lungs burning for air. We are in an even larger extremity than if we were stuck on the 100th story of the Twin Towers on 9-11; having the choice of being burned alive by the jet fuel or jumping out our office window to our deaths. This is our plight:
Human beings as sons and daughters of Adam enter this world spiritually dead (Psalm 51:5). We have absolutely no inclination or responsiveness toward God and no ability to please Him. From the moment we enter into this world, we are alienated or cut off from Him because of what our father Adam did in the beginning. His sin is passed on to us all (Romans 5:18-19) and has condemned us all. The text says we were "dead in our trespasses" meaning we have trespassed somewhere. That somewhere was God's boundaries. We have seen God's perfect Law and have stepped outside of that, thus, we have sinned. We have offended God in thought, word, and deed.
We have followed the ways of this world and have been deceived by it. We have been deceived by the ruler of the kingdom of the air, Satan. Not only has Satan deceived us (2 Corinthians 4:4), but he also dominated us. We were his servants and slaves; captives to the evil one (John 8:44). We were "sons of disobedience" because we obeyed every word of poison that fell from his lips and rebelled against the one holy and true God. Whether in obvious or subtle ways, we disobeyed God and gratified the cravings of our flesh and sinful nature. Paul also says that we were "children of wrath". This means that because we disobeyed God and served Satan, were were subject to God's condemnation; the condemnation and judgment that we rightfully deserved (Ephesians 5:5-6). We were dead, deceived, dominated, disobedient, and doomed for eternity.
If you are not a follower of Jesus Christ, then you are still in jeopardy of a more dangerous predicament then you can possibly conjure up yourself and I strongly suggest listening to this next part. If you are a follower of Jesus, you WERE in this urgent situation. You were dead, but now made alive. You were condemned, but now you are justified through the blood of Jesus.
Friends, there is absolutely no worse condition than this....
It seems that this passage is pretty depressing....
And then comes the greatest short phrase in the history of human speech....two words that change EVERYTHING!!!
Take a look at verses 1-3 again. If you are a believer and follower in Jesus Christ, in the fact that He is fully God and fully man and came into this world to pay the penalty for your sins, then these three verses used to describe you. That is past tense, my friends! That was you....
No hopeless fate looks any grimmer than that which awaits the forlorn company of mankind marching behind the "prince of the power of the air" to their destruction under divine wrath. Just when things look the most desolate, verse 4 comes out of left field...
Now look at verse 4 again. What are the first two words?
"But God..."
BUT GOD!!!
The greatest phrase ever uttered out of one man's lips!
In just these two words the hopelessness and depression in the first three verses disappears without a trace! In these two words, we are brought out of darkness and have a way out of our quandary!
Paul goes on to tell us of three attributes of God that save us from total, eternal separation from Him. This section is all about God's Provision for the situation we find ourselves in. It describes his rich mercy, his great love, and the vastness of his grace. God's mercy on us, his helpless enemies, flows from his own loving heart, not from anything that we have done, but because he LOVES us (Ephesians 3:18-19)! God "made us alive together with Christ"...he gave us regeneration or new spiritual life within us (Ephesians 2:10; Ezekiel 36:26, 37:1-14). It is by nothing that we can do, but only by God's grace that we are brought from death to life!
If I could sum up the main thing I have pulled from this passage it would be this:
"Until you know your spiritual condition apart from the love, mercy, and grace of Christ, you will not and cannot appreciate the transformation God has led you to."
If you are not a follower of Jesus Christ, I pray that God will penetrate your heart with this blog entry. I pray that you will recognize the state that you are currently in and that you can do NOTHING by yourself, that you need God to save you from yourself and this world around you. And for those who do know Jesus as the Lord of their life, brothers and sisters, I pray that we can all recognize the state of disaster that we were in when we were apart from Christ. And more importantly, I pray that we can acknowledge and appreciate that God has taken way our sins and the sting of death, giving us eternal life with Him. I pray that we can give Him every ounce of the glory and praise Him for the rest of our days. Amen.
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