This week’s devotions are based on Week 3 of the Series Ephesians: Becoming Who You Are (CLICK HERE)
BUT…
I know as a kid when you were trying to explain why you did something and then followed it with…”but…” parents were not always willing to listen to the “…but…”, however, this BUT that starts verse 4 of Ephesians 2 is probably one of the most significant “but’s” in the Scripture. “But” is a conjunction that sets up a contrast between what was just said with what will follow. Sometimes those contrasts are minor. In this case, the contrast couldn’t be more stark.
If you need to, reread yesterday’s devotion on Ephesians 2:1-3. Spiritually dead is what we WERE due to a loyalty to the world, Satan’s lies, and our sinful flesh. The consequence was falling under the wrath of a just God.
BUT…
Ephesians 2:4 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.
The simple yet profound contrast between what we WERE and what we ARE is the love and mercy of God. God is the one who brings the dead to life. He did it at creation. He did it in Christ. He does it in our hearts.
There was no condition in our lives that was a catalyst to bring spiritual life to our hearts. God didn’t look at us and evaluate our life and if it was good enough to bring us life. He simply looked into his own heart and his love led him to make us alive. There is no question that a dead person can’t do ANYTHING to bring life. Only God can bring life…and that’s what he did. God MADE US alive! Why? Because he has great love and is rich in mercy. Period.
It is by grace you have been saved. Nothing more…nothing less.
This is the greatest contrast to what we were. No effort, no choice, no ability on our own can bring our spiritual deadness to life. Only the power of God at work can do that.
The result?
He raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms. We often think of heaven as a future reality, which it is, but the reality is ours today. We have the status of one who is already residing in heaven. God’s love is not something that progresses into a reality of heaven, it is an immediate change in status: The dead has been made alive!
This is all a tremendous testimony to the grace of God. The fact that any of us have a status of ALIVE instead of dead is only a gift of grace. Each of us is, as Paul wrote, a show of God’s “incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”
Thank God for this “but” it is the contrast between his wrath and his grace!
Apply: As you reflect on the amazing status change from dead to alive, what greater realization is yours today?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for your rich mercy and great love. Without it I would be doomed to death and never experience life with you. AMEN.