BUT God.....

I have to admit, I love those passages from the bible that tell us what we were before God acted on our lives. I just do. :) Here I am this morning, bleary eyed from not sleeping well, struggling to read my devotions and I came across these verses from Ephesians 2.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- 3among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5even when we were dead in 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 coming ages 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 a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

So making this personal for me
Once I was this nasty person: I was dead in my sins. I was a trespasser. I lived according to the ways of this world. I followed someone other than God. The one I followed was the spirit of disobedience. I lived according to what I wanted, when I wanted it. What my mind or body wanted, that is what I pursued. I was a person of wrath. Just like everyone else around me.

BUT GOD!!! he came, he intervened in my life.

Why?
Because he LOVES me. God, the great one, the creator of the universe, he LOVES ME!

Read what it says here again:

4But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5even when we were dead in 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 coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

God
- is rich in mercy
- has a great love for me
- one who can make me alive together with Christ
- shows me grace
- has raised me up
- is willing to let me have a seat at his table
- wants to show kindness toward me IN Christ Jesus.

This is God. This is the one who acted on my life, before I knew how to act better.
He acted on my life while I was involved with his enemy.

Why?
Because of his love.

How?
Through grace by faith. And that very faith I possess is a GIFT from God. It's not something I dreamed up. It's not something I created out of thin air. It's a gift from God.

I have to admit. Sometimes it blows my mind. I know what kind of an icky evil person I was. And God knew it too. It's not like I could hide it from him.

He saw me, and regardless of my ickiness...he extended his grace to me.
He gifted me with faith in him.

He lets his son be part of my life. I don't know about you, but if I know someone is a rather icky person, I'm not so willing to let my boyo play with them. I want to protect him from that. And here God is, sees my ickiness and is willing to let his son be an integral part of my life. Funny what parenting helps a person see.

All because I am His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that I should walk in them.