4th Thursday of Lent (March 14). But God

Prepare to Listen.  But God, who is rich in mercy.
 
Prayerfully Read Ephesians 2:1-10
You were dead through the trespasses and sins 2in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient.  3All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else.  4But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us 5even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved--6and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.  8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God--9not the result of works, so that no one may boast.  10For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
 
Prayerfully Wonder and Reflect
What surprised or encouraged you in these verses?
 
Life before Christ isn’t a pretty picture—dead in sin, enslaved to the ways of the world and its ruler, Satan, and to the desires of the flesh.  It’s an ugly, depressing picture of helplessness.  But God.  Our salvation begins, continues and ends in this but God.  God, who is rich in mercy, who loves us with a great love, changes the picture from ugly to beautiful.  From dead in sin to “alive together with Christ;” from enslavement to life-draining passions to raised up with Christ. But God has changed everything.  Pause and let this great truth sink in: made alive and raised up with Christ.
 
Two things result.  First, while God’s work immeasurably benefits us who believe, it is for God’s pleasure.  We become pictures in God’s brag book, displaying to the world “the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”  Second, we become “what God has made us,” that is God’s “workmanship.”  There is an artistic ring to this, suggesting that what God did for us in Jesus “is a work of art,”[1] putting us at the center of God’s new creation in order to enact the good works “which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.”  These aren’t works to earn God’s favor.  But works that are offered to the world, works that display to the world the grace and love of our God.  All made possible because, as Paul states twice, “by grace you have been saved.”  Therefore, by grace we now live.
 
How can the truth that you are God’s artistic creation change/shape how you live today?
 
Prayerfully Respond
Lord I give you thanks for your generous grace that has made me alive in Christ, alive to do good works that will be life-giving to those I meet today.  Point me to the good works you want me to do today.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Display God’s grace in your good works for others.
[1] Wright, N. T. Ephesians.  Downers Grove, IL: IVP Connect, 2009, p. 22.