Through the Bible - Exodus 11-12, Matthew 18:21-35
Good morning,
In yesterday's devotional from Hebrews 13 we were told that we can be freed from our disposition towards ourselves and that this disposition can be transformed, recreated into a disposition towards the Lord and others through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. In this transformation so we'll find "more to this life".
For today's verse we'll go to Ephesians chapter 2, about God's saving grace. It's another verse from Pastor Bob's sermon last weekend.
Eph 2:10 For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. NLT
or from the Amplified Bible:
Ephesians 2:10 For we are God's [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live].
When I read the words "recreated" in Christ, my thoughts went back to David in Psalm 51 when he said "create in me a clean heart".
Ps 51:10 God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life. (from THE MESSAGE)
How many of us at some point came to a realization of the need for a clean start a clean heart, a "Genesis week"? Tired of the rat race, a race that nobody wins, we can have a new purpose. But, it is not something that we do for ourselves, the work is done by Jesus within us. It is pointed out earlier in the passage.
Eph 2:4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved. NIV
John Piper in a sermon on this passage stated, "One of the greatest books about God ever written, namely, John Calvin's Institutes, begins with this sentence: "Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves." What we may need reminding of in our day is not that the knowledge of God is difficult to comprehend and to embrace—that's more or less obvious—but that the knowledge of ourselves is just as difficult to comprehend and to embrace. Indeed, it may be more difficult, first, because a true knowledge of ourselves assumes a true knowledge of God, and, second, because we tend to think we do know ourselves, when, in fact, the depths or our condition are beyond our comprehension without the help of God. "
Piper concludes his sermon with the following statement and prayer. "There are two ways to respond to this: One is theoretical and impersonal; the other is personal and urgent. One says: How can this be, and how can that be? The other says: God brought me here today. God spoke in these texts to me today. God's mercy and love and grace seem desperately needed and beautiful to me today. O God, today, I submit to your amazing grace that has brought me here and awakened me and softened me and opened me. Thanks be to God for the riches of his mercy and the greatness of his love and the power of his grace."
Has God spoken to you in the text today? Read the familiar passage below in The Message paraphrase. What might he be preparing you for?
Blessings,
Mike
mikevw@bellsouth.net
mikesvotd.blogspot.com Eph 2:1-10
He Tore Down the Wall
2 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.
Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing. (from THE MESSAGE)
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