Amazing Grace

God’s grace is radical.  It is so radical that we often have a problem accepting it and extending it to others.  We often view life through the lenses of justice and people getting what they deserve.  However, grace has a radically different vantage point.  Grace does not give people what they deserve.  It gives them what they don’t deserve.  Ephesians 2:1-10 reveals some life giving facts about God’s saving grace.

​Before coming to Christ we were dead in trespasses and sins.  We were cut off from God.  There was no hope of fellowship with God because we were cut off from the life of God.  We lived according to the ways of the world.  We adopted the thinking of the world.  Our behavior was determined by the powerful influences of society’s attitudes, habits, and preferences, which stand in opposition to God’s standards.  Our mindset or way of thinking was also according to Satan.  Satan is described here as the prince or ruler of the power of the air.  Even the best among us was bad. 

We were dead in trespasses and sins, but God is rich in mercy.  The nature of God will not allow Him to sit idle and do nothing.  He is rich in mercy.  God didn’t do what could have been done.  He didn’t do what deserved to be done.  He withheld His judgment and provided a way for salvation.  While we were being driven by lust, God was operating in love.  He loved us enough to make us alive with Christ.  This newness of life is granted through our identification with Christ when we are buried with Him in baptism (Romans 6:1-4).

Because of God’s grace, you have been saved, and you are still saved right now.  In Christ, we experienced a resurrection.  We were dead, but now are alive and raised.  God did not just do the bear minimum.  He went above and beyond.  He didn’t just make us alive, and raise us up, but He elevated us by seating us with Christ in the heavenly places in Christ.  By allowing us to sit in heavenly places, God raises us up above the polluted air of Satan’s kingdom and places us where we can breathe of God’s life giving Spirit. 

God has shown us the depth of grace that is unmatched.  He has shown that the place of grace is in Christ.  God has done all of the heavy lifting in salvation.  We are saved by grace through faith.  We cannot save ourselves.  We don’t have bragging rights.  Works for salvation glorify man, but grace glorifies God.  However, we have a role in receiving God’s saving grace.  The gift of salvation is available to all.  But faith, belief in the gift and its giver, allows you to grab hold of the gift. 
Thank God for His amazing grace!