God loves you so much… That he sent His son to die for you. If you were the only one, He would have still sent Jesus for you. You do have hope. None of us are righteous or deserving of His generous grace. It is overwhelming to think about, but there is nothing we can do to earn this free gift, we have only to accept it. God is generous … More than we can ask or think… And I am truly unworthy and grateful for His amazing gift of love. I pray you will hear and accept these words of hope , not from me, but from Him. Will you accept His free gift?
Ephesians 2 is challenging to me. I don’t believe that God actually cares about me. I think I’ve outlived any 2nd chances that were available. But this chapter. So many references to His “great love”, His mercy, His grace … “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us” (v4) … and on and on. It gives me a glimmer of (probably inappropriate) hope.
Antimony, you are oh so loved by Him! I, too wrestled with this passage today. As I read, “you were dead in your transgressions and sins,” I thought to myself, “but God, I STILL AM! I’m still fighting these things! I have not been sanctified! I am still walking in the ways of the world so often!” But then I kept reading, and verse 5 whispered hope to me… “[God] made us alive with Christ *even when we were dead in transgressions* — it is by grace you have been saved.” Yes, what joyous hope we have!! Because even when we are deep in the pit of our darkest sins, our Father, because of His great mercy, has already made us alive in Christ. It seems such a paradox. My feeble human mind cannot even approach an understanding of it. But I trust in the “incomparable riches of his grace.” Love to you, Antimony.
God never stops giving us chances. He loves you more than you could ever imagine. You are made worthy of that love through the death and resurrection of Christ. Please don’t let your own head stand in the way of accepting his love and forgiveness by trying to rationalize it humanly. There’s nothing you could ever do to cause God to stop loving you b
I liked reading through Eph 2:3-7. It reminds me of verses in other parts of the NT to think upon things above and not on things of the flesh. that God who is infinite in His mercies and grace in kindness will show us His exceeding riches and we can have hope in that. Though this present life may be afflicted with different hardships, we can dwell in His presence today and even more so when we are taken to be with Him . We have access to Him
Through the Son and nothing can take us away from that . Sorry if I don’t exactly stick to what the verse says. But I hope this is encouraging nonetheless
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. I like this reminder that works do not save us. Only God’s grace saves us . Through faith we perform works already placed before us by our Heavenly Father whose workmanship we are. Created in His image to do works to His Glory not our glory, recognition or salvation. He is an awesome Lord!
I’m going to be real here..I’m having total ups and down reading the Old Testament. I’ve been a Christian my whole life..but this is the first time I’ve read the entire Bible. I’m loving it..I crave it in the mornings, but some parts are just hard to read. The violence of the past makes me sad, makes me feel ill..I really struggle with it. I see so many of the same things still going on in the world (war, beheadings, etc) and it makes me sad for how people can be. I’m also the type who covers her eyes during the scary parts of movies and really can’t stand battle scenes..it’s just how I’m wired :-)
Today especially, I felt reprieve in the NT readings, especially Eph 2:1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
I really appreciate that this is written with past tense. “You were dead,” “you used to live,” “when you followed.” This just emphasizes that we are not in the past, through Christ we are freed from the old way of living, and now, through the Spirit He dwells in us. I really needed that contrast today…
Leah I relate to much of what you said today. Thank you for sharing. I too have been a Christian my whole life but this is the first time I’ve read the entire Bible. Today I felt particularly dry and trying to focus but not succeeding. Thank you for the insight on the past tense in Ephesians. It was a good word for me.
I’m finding the pairing of the New and Old Testament passages quite interesting, as it reveals some interesting parallels hadn’t picked up entirely before.
This part stuck out to me today:
Ephesians 2:19-22
What a beautiful picture of the church this is!
I remember from some past Bible studies, ‘CHRIST’ is the Greek form of “MESSIAH”, both of which when translated to English means, “ANOINTED ONE.” As we’ve seen, the one anointed becomes the king, and he guides and leads the people to follow after God (or to not, sadly in some cases).
Christ being our cornerstone, means he is the Lord who reigns over us–and guides us to follow God wholly, tearing down our idols and building us into a holy place for God to dwell. That I find amazing, that God would create in us together a place for him to dwell, and has Grace and mercy enough to continually work to make his temple in our church!
Praise be to God that he is the Lord who will do this, and not I!
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 a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone…
Christ is the center of all of our lives and we have to be thankful each and every day for the salvation we’ve already been given! Such an amazing reminder from Paul this morning. (after all of the fighting in Kings it was nice to transition to Ephesians)
God loves you so much… That he sent His son to die for you. If you were the only one, He would have still sent Jesus for you. You do have hope. None of us are righteous or deserving of His generous grace. It is overwhelming to think about, but there is nothing we can do to earn this free gift, we have only to accept it. God is generous … More than we can ask or think… And I am truly unworthy and grateful for His amazing gift of love. I pray you will hear and accept these words of hope , not from me, but from Him. Will you accept His free gift?
Ephesians 2 is challenging to me. I don’t believe that God actually cares about me. I think I’ve outlived any 2nd chances that were available. But this chapter. So many references to His “great love”, His mercy, His grace … “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us” (v4) … and on and on. It gives me a glimmer of (probably inappropriate) hope.
Antimony, you are oh so loved by Him! I, too wrestled with this passage today. As I read, “you were dead in your transgressions and sins,” I thought to myself, “but God, I STILL AM! I’m still fighting these things! I have not been sanctified! I am still walking in the ways of the world so often!” But then I kept reading, and verse 5 whispered hope to me… “[God] made us alive with Christ *even when we were dead in transgressions* — it is by grace you have been saved.” Yes, what joyous hope we have!! Because even when we are deep in the pit of our darkest sins, our Father, because of His great mercy, has already made us alive in Christ. It seems such a paradox. My feeble human mind cannot even approach an understanding of it. But I trust in the “incomparable riches of his grace.” Love to you, Antimony.
God never stops giving us chances. He loves you more than you could ever imagine. You are made worthy of that love through the death and resurrection of Christ. Please don’t let your own head stand in the way of accepting his love and forgiveness by trying to rationalize it humanly. There’s nothing you could ever do to cause God to stop loving you b
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
BUT GOD….nothing we do or did…but what God has done!!
I liked reading through Eph 2:3-7. It reminds me of verses in other parts of the NT to think upon things above and not on things of the flesh. that God who is infinite in His mercies and grace in kindness will show us His exceeding riches and we can have hope in that. Though this present life may be afflicted with different hardships, we can dwell in His presence today and even more so when we are taken to be with Him . We have access to Him
Through the Son and nothing can take us away from that . Sorry if I don’t exactly stick to what the verse says. But I hope this is encouraging nonetheless
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. I like this reminder that works do not save us. Only God’s grace saves us . Through faith we perform works already placed before us by our Heavenly Father whose workmanship we are. Created in His image to do works to His Glory not our glory, recognition or salvation. He is an awesome Lord!
I’m going to be real here..I’m having total ups and down reading the Old Testament. I’ve been a Christian my whole life..but this is the first time I’ve read the entire Bible. I’m loving it..I crave it in the mornings, but some parts are just hard to read. The violence of the past makes me sad, makes me feel ill..I really struggle with it. I see so many of the same things still going on in the world (war, beheadings, etc) and it makes me sad for how people can be. I’m also the type who covers her eyes during the scary parts of movies and really can’t stand battle scenes..it’s just how I’m wired :-)
Today especially, I felt reprieve in the NT readings, especially Eph 2:1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
I really appreciate that this is written with past tense. “You were dead,” “you used to live,” “when you followed.” This just emphasizes that we are not in the past, through Christ we are freed from the old way of living, and now, through the Spirit He dwells in us. I really needed that contrast today…
Leah I relate to much of what you said today. Thank you for sharing. I too have been a Christian my whole life but this is the first time I’ve read the entire Bible. Today I felt particularly dry and trying to focus but not succeeding. Thank you for the insight on the past tense in Ephesians. It was a good word for me.
I’m finding the pairing of the New and Old Testament passages quite interesting, as it reveals some interesting parallels hadn’t picked up entirely before.
This part stuck out to me today:
Ephesians 2:19-22
What a beautiful picture of the church this is!
I remember from some past Bible studies, ‘CHRIST’ is the Greek form of “MESSIAH”, both of which when translated to English means, “ANOINTED ONE.” As we’ve seen, the one anointed becomes the king, and he guides and leads the people to follow after God (or to not, sadly in some cases).
Christ being our cornerstone, means he is the Lord who reigns over us–and guides us to follow God wholly, tearing down our idols and building us into a holy place for God to dwell. That I find amazing, that God would create in us together a place for him to dwell, and has Grace and mercy enough to continually work to make his temple in our church!
Praise be to God that he is the Lord who will do this, and not I!
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 a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone…
Christ is the center of all of our lives and we have to be thankful each and every day for the salvation we’ve already been given! Such an amazing reminder from Paul this morning. (after all of the fighting in Kings it was nice to transition to Ephesians)