God of loving mercy, be merciful to this dear reader and may he or she be merciful today in all they may face. In Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
Our text comes from Ephesians 2:1-10: 1 And you he made alive, when you were dead through 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 these we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of body and mind, and so we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 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 because of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. - Revised Standard Version (RSV).
Salvation is a central theme of the Bible, but it gets misunderstood and because of that is not shared as often as it should. Salvation is coming to life in Christ because of a new relationship we are offered, with love, from God Himself. While that may not sound profound imagine life without it. Right away you notice that if you've not yet come to life, as Paul says, you're where? In death or close to it. And existing without life in God is no existence at all. Life in Christ means a life free from the chains and weight of sin. Life in Christ means being led by Him and not by the other "spirit that is at work in the sons (& daughters) of disobedience." And as hard as this is to imagine and for some, to accept, it's free! It cost Christ everything and it's not a cheap grace, but it's still free. God loves you and me so much that He's offered this new relationship in Christ so that we might be free from the certain death that sinful living will bring. And to top it all off, we're the "workmanship" of God, "created in Christ Jesus for good works," in other words, once we're in that relationship it should show in all that we think, say, and do.
PRAYER: God of life and the fullness thereof, share that relationship anew with me this day. I know I should be living a life that shows I am saved, but I get scared about what that truly means. May Your Holy Spirit guide me to a new and deeper understanding of that today. I ask this in Christ Jesus' precious and powerful name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
------------Prayer Requests and Updates: For the James Matz family who is having a memorial service in our church this Friday morning at 10:00 a.m. For Rita Tanberg as she recovers from the needed procedure for her continued dialysis. And for Facundo Zavala, our custodian. He entered the hospital on Sunday morning at 8 a.m. set for surgery on Monday only to find the hospital did not order a needed patch for his surgery. He was discharged and reports back again on Sunday. Please pray that all go well with him and this needed surgery.
