October 4 ~ 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.
One day as I walked my students across the school campus, one of them spotted a Coke bottle on the sidewalk. He picked it up and smashed it to the ground, watching it splinter into a bazillion pieces. I asked him why he did this, and he said, “They (meaning his classmates) told me to.” In the mind of a child somewhere around the age of six, this was a good enough reason. The other children could not comprehend the magnitude of this action. They had no clue that the glass could ricochet and cut them… that someone could step on the debris on the sidewalk and get hurt… that this was an irresponsible thing to do. It was a teachable moment… and even though the student was only a young child, there were consequences for his actions. I am quite certain that I spoke sternly to him about how he was never to do this again!
Don’t you know that God wants to yank us out of line and give us a stern talking to… or worse… when we disobey Him? Can’t you imagine that He would like to “knock a knot on our head” as you may have heard a grown-up say at some point? None of us are perfect. We all make mistakes. And on any given day, we’ve all “smashed the Coke bottle” because someone told us, “It won’t hurt anything!”
The most amazing part of this scripture passage to me is where it says, “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.” God didn’t pick us up by the collar and ask, “What do you think you’re doing?” He wrapped His arms around us and said, “Here you go… meet my Son who died for your poor choices and indiscretions. Because of Him, you are forgiven.” I have to tell you, this is deeply humbling for me. I know that I do not deserve such a gift… and quite frankly, neither do you. But that has not stopped God from swinging the doors wide open and inviting us to come directly to Him.
What happens next is totally up to us. We can continue to breathe in garbage and the lies of the devil and his posse, or we can cough up the sin, so to speak and clear our lungs once and for all. We can stop spinning our wheels and spiraling deeper into the mud of depravity… and we can reach for the extended hand of God Almighty, who waits to rescue us and give us a second chance.
Where do you see yourself? Are you drowning under the burdens of living to please others instead of the One who offers you hope and true redemption? Are you ready to accept His offer and make a fresh start, once and for all? Isn’t today the perfect time to give your burdens, misdeeds, lapses and disobedience to Jesus and allow Him to wipe them completely away… to fully restore you? Aren’t you ready to rest in the LORD… and to give Him thanks for such an amazing gift?
What are you waiting for? Let go… let God… and praise His grace and mercy forever.
©2012 Debbie Robus
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