Because of my own sin and depravity and stupidity, the first few verses of Ephesians 2 are easy truths to believe:
"As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath." 2:1-3.Ironically enough, I begin this post with a confession: "I am the problem, and I cannot be the solution." There is a repetitive sin issue that creeps up in my life when I least expect it. Call it my own personal "thorn in the side", and I have a tendency to justify it with an explanation of my vulnerability or to angrily blame Satan for tempting me. What I generally fail to realize is that even if I am legitimately vulnerable and spiritual warfare is playing a factor, I am still the problem because I am still the one who chooses to sin when I know that there is a better option.
Apart from God, we choose to follow the culture zeitgeist of our time and choose to allow spiritual warfare to play a role in our lives. The emphasis here is choice. Apart from Christ, we choose death. Consequently, we choose to put ourselves under God's wrath because God hates sin. Not surprisingly, as a follower of Jesus, I hate sin too and I hate myself when I choose to follow my sinful nature instead of my Lord.
My cryptic confession warrants another commitment to repentance, only I think I will take the advice of scripture and let Jesus be the only answer this time around.
"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." 2:5-10God loved us so much that He could not bare to see us as the objects of His wrath, so He entered into history as a man so that we may now what it is to choose God over death and so that He could be the object of His own wrath in order that we may be spared. It is through His grace that we are saved through faith. This verse may be one of the most quoted in Protestant theology, and for good reason. Salvation occurred at the cross because of God's grace- through His gift of Himself. There is nothing we can do to earn it or repay Him or deserve it. In fact, the only thing we can do is have faith and we can't even have that apart from trust in God and the strength of the Holy Spirit because Hebrews 11 tells us that faith means trusting in the unseen and the unrealized. Nothing I do changes the fact that salvation is from God alone. Furthermore, I cannot boast about my faith or my works because God leaves no room for boasting in anything but His glory. He created us to do good works and prepared them in advance for us to do. So even the good that we do is not to be praised because in doing good we are merely doing what we were designed to do.
I love how humbling this passage is. It reminds me of my depravity, of my need to continually accept the gift of Christ. I am once again reminded that God saves me from myself and raises me up to be with Him... and there is nothing I can do to be worthy of that gift.
It is a gift that demands my response, and my response is to continually lay down my life, turn from my sinful nature, and choose to follow Jesus and to embrace the good works He has called me to do. So, once again, Lord I choose You. I love you, but not nearly enough. So, Jesus, please give me grace and strength to love and follow you.
Posts
0 comments
Post a Comment