Eph 2:4-10
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
wonderful
ReplyDeleteHey, stopped by to check out your sites. Read some and viewed most of your duty versus love video...Liked what you said. Look forward to reading more!! Glad to hook up with y'all...
ReplyDeleteThanks, ladies, for the comments. Manuela, it was nice to 'meet' you in the online conference chat last night.
ReplyDeleteIn my life, what was made "alive together with Christ", religion tried it's best to kill. And rather than seeing the exceeding riches of His grace, I saw the exceeding poverty of, what they told me was, His judgement.
ReplyDeleteYes, I have been saved through faith, not through a sinner's prayer.
I'm stuck on the thought of how I was created "IN" Christ Jesus. I know I was taught that I was created "FOR" Christ Jesus, and FOR loving Him, (i.e. Father), but this thought of being "CREATED IN" Him, gives me pause.
I guess, being IN Him, my good works should be as much of a natural overflow of my love, as His were. Not something I work towards, but just a natural result/consequence of being created IN Him. It's hard to "walk in" something and "work" at it, at the same time.
And I'm sure it's easier to walk in something, prepared by God beforehand, than to try to do the "preparing beforehand" myself.
Free Spirit,
ReplyDeleteI can relate to all you're saying, and I think so many others can as well! Religion has truly 'killed' what God has made alive. I think in a literal sense, what God has made alive can't be killed, but it can certainly be suppressed so that people who are alive don't even know it! Religion does a good job of that.
The whole "in" thing certainly is amazing, isn't it. We are in Him and He is in us. I, too, was taught for years that my existence and my salvation was simply "for" Him. For me to serve Him, worship Him, spread His word, etc.
But the whole idea in 1 Cor 6:17 that we are joined together with Him, and that we are in Him and He is in us, and all that, has really changed my understanding of who I am and what my 'purpose' is. It's to be loved by God and to love Him.
Everything else comes out of that union. I'm not working "for" Him. Rather He's working "through" me. I'm walking "in" His works.
It all sounds complicated to some people, but I think it's just because we've all been programmed that we're down here, and God is up there somewhere, looking down on us and waiting for us to perform for Him.
But we're in a union with Him, and with all that He is. He is love, He is Creator, He is Wisdom, etc. And it's not ours for the asking so much as it's ours for the walking "in" as we get to know Him better, through grace.