But He Didn’t Stop There
April 7, 2020
Easter is a good time to consider your salvation, however long ago or recently it happened. I was reading Ephesians 2:4-8 this morning and marveling at what God chose to do for us.
4 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… (NKJV)
This passage starts with one of my favorite biblical phrases – “But God” (I love that phrase). The earlier verses in Ephesians 2 talk about the state we were in before we knew Jesus. Not a pretty picture. I’ll be honest, there was a time in my life when I related so much more to Ephesians 2:1-3 that verses 4-8 did not even compute in my brain. But now I am spending more thought life on verse 4-8, because they say that God is:
Rich in mercy
Because of His great love with which He loved us
Made us alive
Raised us up with Christ
Seated us with Christ in heaven
Continuously shows us the exceeding riches of His grace
When we accepted Jesus, God gave us eternal life. That is no small thing, but He didn’t stop there. He gave us the Holy Spirit to guide and comfort us (John 14:26), but He didn’t stop there. He adopted us as his own sons and daughters (Galatians 4:5-7), but He didn’t stop there. He seated us with Jesus in heaven so that we can now come boldly to the Father to ask for the grace and mercy we need (Hebrews 4:16).
Think of that. I am not a pitiful sinner that was just barely pulled out of the muck. I have been: cleaned off - white as snow, given legal status in heaven, given a place in the throne room of heaven, and crowned as a princess – daughter of the Most High God! I am not just redeemed, honey. I am REDEEMED!
