Scripture: Ephesians 2:1-10 (NRSV)
DEVOTIONAL: In The Message‘s interesting version of Ephesians 2:1-10, it talks about our old life and says: “you filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience.” I associate this with how polluted and contaminated our environment is becoming.
See, I used to live in the Central Valley of California. Because of its geography and wind patterns, polluted air from Los Angeles and San Francisco would come and settle in the valley. To escape this and to fill my lungs up with fresh air, I would take quick trips to Yosemite National Park. Though fairly close, it would take me quite a while to get to the park, primarily because of the treacherous and intricate roads. When I arrived, there was nothing more sublime than to take a deep breath filling up my lungs of this fresh, pure, crisp air.
In a way, I guess salvation is like that. We were spiritually polluted and contaminated. The road to salvation may be treacherous and intricate but upon arrival and once God calls us, salvation is fresh, pure and crisp just like those mornings at Yosemite.
Scripture: Ephesians 2:1-10 (NRSV)
You were dead through the trespasses and sins 2in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. 3All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else.
4But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us 5even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— 9not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 10For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.