Ephesians 2: 1-10
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
Trespasses are acts against the law, and sins are times we just don't hit the bulls-eye. We're all guilty.
In which you formerly walked according to the course of this World,
We all, before we were saved, lived our lives according to worldly attitudes.
According to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
This prince is the "god of this World," Satan, the devil, our enemy who received the authority over the World when Adam gave it over to him by obeying him instead of God.
This is the spirit who is working in all those who disobey God's laws, following their own ideas, instead. Or what they think are their own ideas, actually what this evil spirit is telling them.
Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
We Christians, before we were saved, also lived our lives wanting what we want right now (lust) to satisfy our own ease and pleasures.
And were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
Not because of what we did, but by nature, we were born with that damaged DNA that causes us to make foolish choices to act in our own interests, not God's, who wants only the best for each of us.
But God, being rich in mercy,
Mercy is God not giving us the wrath, the punishment we deserve.
Because of His great Love with which He Loved us,
God is Love, and He Loves us unconditionally, just because we are His creatures.
Even when we were dead in our transgressions,
We are born with dead spirits, having inherited that Original Sin that Scripture calls "sinful flesh," or the "sinful human nature." This is why we all end up disobeying His laws, becoming transgressors.
Made us alive
When we turn to God, admitting that we deserve death, letting Jesus take our death for us on the Cross as our personal Sacrifice, then He puts His own Holy Spirit in our spirit, giving it Life, making us Alive.
Together with Christ
We are joined together to be connected with Christ.
Just as our body parts are all connected to be one body, we are connected to Christ as our Head, and we are His body.
(By grace you have been saved),
Grace [God's Riches At Christ's Expense] is God giving us the good that we could never earn.
And raised us up with Him,
We already have His Resurrection Life living in us in His Holy Spirit.
And seated us with Him in the Heavenlies in Christ Jesus,
God sees the end from the beginning, so He sees us as already Glorified and participating in King Jesus' ruling Creation on His Throne.
So that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
We will be the trophies of His grace--in His Redeeming us out of sin, washing us pristine clean in the Blood of the Lamb, forgiving us, promoting us, causing us to be born into His own family, and adopting us by pronouncing that we are adults in His family with all the responsibilities and benefits of running His Family Business.
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that [faith] not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
So it is not a result of anything we can do, since everything we do comes from our "sinful human nature." It is God's free gift. Even the faith by which we believe is His gift, since, No man can come to Me, except the Father which has sent Me draw him (John 6:44), and, All that the Father gives Me shall come to me (John 6:37), and, Therefore I said to you no man can come to Me, except it were given to him by My Father (John 6:65).
None of us can boast of anything we have done to make God see us. He already sees us, and Loves us anyway. He cannot accept anything that comes from anything that is stained by sin, so He has done it all. For us. For our benefit, and His glory.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
God created us in the first place, then He created a new Life in us when He saved us. So we are His workmanship that He decided would do good works that He planned for us beforehand so we would live like that, instead of how we lived before we were saved.
We are to be different. We are to be in the World but not of the World. We are to have different attitudes, thoughts, and lifestyle than we had before we encountered God when He came into our lives.
When God puts His Life into us, everything changes. Nothing around us changes, but we have "new eyes" to see everything differently than we did before. Now we can "see" stuff that we never noticed before, and much more clearly and detailed than before.
We still have our "sinful human nature," but now we also have God's Life living in us that has power and authority over the old nature, to give us new, better, righteous choices to make. We never have to go back to the old ways again.
O my Father, You are so good to all of us! You thought out every detail in advance, then proceeded to let it all play out, under Your direction, so logically and reasonably according to how You determined it all.
And everything is working together into one, glorious, magnificent story of Mankind!
And we win. After all the struggles, all the trials, all the mistakes, all the evil workings against us, all the sorrows, all the troubles; we win.
Because we are in Christ, the Victor! Our Champion! Our Lord and King and Mighty Warrior!
Thank You so much, dear Father, for choosing us, and drawing us, and giving us to Your Son. Thank You so much for being our Good Father and our Almighty God! Thank You for Your power, Your authority, Your wisdom, Your compassion, Your kindness, Your mercy and grace.
Thank You for the unimaginable future You have planned for us, Father!
Please continue to prepare us in this Earthly school, as we spend the few moments of our life here learning to be Your sons and daughters. Continue to strengthen us, and enlighten us, and lead and guide us into Your paths of righteousness to enlighten this World we live in, to show the World by our Love for one another that Christ Jesus came for them, too.
Father, continue to grow me in Your grace and graciousness. Continue to teach me how to love my neighbor with Your unconditional Love. Show me what to do to demonstrate that Love to others.
Use me, Father, to broadcast Your precious seed of the Gospel into Your mission fields, to inform and enlighten those who are searching for You. Send me out into the areas You would have me go into, to enlarge my borders and work Your works to promote Your Kingdom.
And bring all the lost sheep into Your fold, Father, that there be One Fold with One Shepherd.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
