Devotional Day 30

Scripture

Ephesians 2:1-10

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 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— 3 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. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Devotional

This passage is such a powerful reminder of how we all enter into relationship with God, namely that we were all jacked up when God saved us - not one of us was any better off than another, or any closer to God than another. We were in fact, all dead. You can’t get further away than dead. And yet how many of us compare testimonies, thinking “wow that person was really far from God”. And how many of us look at someone in our lives who needs Jesus and thinks “man, I don’t know if they could ever receive Jesus”. You know by definition you weren’t any closer to God when he saved you. Neither was the Apostle Paul, or Peter, or Billy Graham. Before we encountered the cross we were all dead in our sins. But! Even when we were dead in our trespasses, we were made alive with Christ through grace!

I know some of us have been through a lot - done some things, things we’re ashamed of. And even though we’ve encountered the cross, laid our burdens down at Jesus’ feet, the shame and memories of our past still haunt us. Satan loves to remind us of our past sin, attempting to sling at us what was buried with Christ. One of the most wonderful implications of the grace of God in our salvation is that we don’t need to hold on to the identity of our past, our failings or shame - because it wasn’t our goodness or righteousness that caused Jesus to accept us - it was all grace! When he chose you, God knew exactly what you would do, what you would fail to do and what would happen to you. And he still chose you, and you never lost your value or worth to him.

So when the enemy attempts to bring condementation at you, assailing your mind with the painful memories of your past, resist him with scripture as Jesus did. “There is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1) You are redeemed - fully and completely, and you have been saved by God’s unmerited kindness and mercy shown to you in Jesus. We’re all in the same boat, we were just as dead as each other - and now equally alive in him!

Prayer

Lord thank you for your grace today! Thank You for saving me when I absolutely did not deserve it - and could not even do anything about it. Lord I pray that you would guard my mind today and keep me in the joy of knowing your grace. Protect my mind also from the accusations, lies and condemnation of the enemy - and help me to enjoy the wonderful gift of salvation that you have given to me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.