Ephesians 2:1-6
It wasn’t so long ago that you were
mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t
know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled
your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all
did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like
doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his
temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy
and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives
and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help
from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in
company with Jesus, our Messiah.
Scripture
quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002
by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs,
CO. All rights reserved.
I recently saw someone from a
distance, and for a split second, I thought this person was someone I
knew...a pastor friend who moved away several years ago. I began to
think about how much I miss this friend...how important his support and
nurture was to my spiritual growth. I still speak with him occasionally
via e-mail, but there are times when I wish we could have one of our
long heart-to-heart talks. There have been times in the last several
years when I would have given anything if he had been here to advise me
in person.
As I thought of my friend, I very clearly received
this message...”If he had been here, you would have depended upon him
instead of Me. You might not have grown as much in your faith.”
Sometimes, I think God makes us go through some hard times...to “tough
it out” (so to speak) in certain circumstances...so that we depend more
on Him than we do on mere mortals. It’s not that my friend would not
have given me excellent, Godly advice. But I needed to be somewhat
alone, isolated and vulnerable. I needed to realize that all I had...and all I needed...was God – that HE could handle things for me, and that I had to trust Him to do so.
I
am not the same person I once was...and you probably are not either. I
am still a sinner, but I am not mired in the stagnant life of sin.
More importantly, I am knee-deep or more in faith and trust in God...for
everything. I’ve seen His grace in action. I’ve felt His mercy on
more than one occasion. I am immersed in His love and have physical
evidence of His miracles and power. And He did this for me all on His
own, without human assistance or interference!
I don’t know
where you are on your faith walk. I hope you have Godly friends and
disciples to whom you can turn when things are tough. But I also hope
you know that you are truly NEVER alone when you give your heart to
Jesus. Our gracious, merciful, loving Heavenly Father is always, always available to us...always working on our behalf...and capable of handling anything and everything we throw at Him!
Sometimes,
we need to bask in the unadulterated grace, mercy, compassion, power
and love of God. We need to peel back the layers and “go it alone” with
Him...and trust that He truly is enough! We say that we believe that
Jesus is all we need...and He is! Now it’s time to act like it!
©2014 Debbie Robus
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