I so enjoyed reading your comments from last week! We move onto Chapter 2! Can't wait to hear your comments on this chapter. I enjoyed it.
2 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 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. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
I just felt like these verses were such a great reminder of what I once was, what I would be if Christ had not rescued me! Overwhelmed with gratitude and thankfulness and like I mentioned last week, thankful for the reminder to focus on the gift He has given me in Christ!
It was also a good reminder for me to realize that the unsaved are living in this state! A reminder to earnestly be praying for those I know that are lost. To pray for opportunities to share with them because as they currently are - they are deserving of wrath and will get that unless the Spirit opens their eyes!
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 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.
These verses confirmed for me characteristics of God - He is loving, He is merciful, He is just, He is alive! What comfort that brings! It also served as a great avenue of thankfulness as I was reminded that but for the love of Christ - I'd still be stuck in my sin and transgression! I'd still be headed toward a path of wrath! But because of His great love for us! I'm not! Thank you Jesus!
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
We are saved by grace - PERIOD! God saves us - we can do NOTHING to earn it or get it! I find this is also very encouraging when I am witnessing to non-believers! It is NOT my job to save anyone. I simply cannot save a person. It is a work of God and God alone. The Father (Holy Spirit) draws people to Himself. He saves! He opens eyes! When approaching people to share Christ, remember that. It should give us freedom, should relax me - their salvation is NOT up to me! I only need to be a link in the chain - I only need to worry about whether or not I am obeying the Lord and following promptings of the Holy Spirit when talking with them. I could be the end of the chain and get to witness them coming to a saving knowledge of Christ, or I could be a small link in the chain that is planting a seed. Brings freedom to my heart especially as a mother of young children who I pray will come to know the Father and love them all of their days. But I cannot save my children - I cannot convict my children. I can simply present the gospel as many times as I can and in as many ways as I can and pray that the Holy Spirit will open their eyes to His love for them and that they will accept the gift!
10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
I love this verse! Everything is laid out for me in advance. If I am keeping in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:25) then I will know what those good works are and can stand assured that I am equipped for them. This is also a great verse for a person like me who has a hard time saying no to things - but if I am seeking the Lord and petitioning Him and walking in obedience - He will show me exactly what the good works are that I'm to do - all else I need not worry about. I can stand confident in the fact that they were not intended for me to do and that He has prepared them in advance for someone else to do.
11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Love that these verses are a reminder that Christ died for ALL! And the commonality between us all is JESUS! Love that from a practical standpoint. Anytime we feel uncomfortable in a situation with other believers, or like we wouldn't fit in, etc - we must remember that we all have Jesus in common - it is the common thread that runs through all of us.
vs 19-22
He is building us up all together as the Church - all one people with Jesus as the commonality. With Jesus as the cornerstone. We are the temple of the Lord. We are the house of Worship. It's an ongoing process. He is forming and molding us to be more like Him - to be a dwelling for Him.
How this also applies to my own life! Is Jesus MY cornerstone - is all of my life built upon Him? Am I living in such a way that I am a temple of the Lord - have I purged my life of the unclean things? Am I a house of worship for Him with my life - am I living in complete worship and surrender to Him? Am I in an ongoing process of growth? Am I being formed and molded to be more like Him? The Holy Spirit indwells me - does my life show evidence of that? All thoughts I had to ponder this week as I read that last section.
I hope you enjoyed Chapter 2! Please share your thoughts in the comments below so we can all grow from each other!
This week, please continue on and read Chapter 3! I'd spread it out much like we did on Chapter 1 and focus in on short verse chunks each day.
Much love!
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