Today's Passage: Ephesians 2

I love Paul's message of unity in the second half of this passage, but it's the first half that really struck me today.  Starting right off with the NIV header "Made Alive in Christ."  I have to admit that in my own arrogance as a non-believer I use to think the idea that I was any less alive without Christ was ridiculous.  I thought that I was in as much if not more control of my life as anyone I knew.  In this passage however Paul unveils the truth of our condition on this earth. 

Verses 1-3 explain that from the moment we are born we are destined for three things. 1) To give into our fleshly or selfish desires 2) To receive God's wrath because of our actions 3) Death and separation from God.  God however because of His love and grace, gifted us with an open door to enter into His family and escape these three things.  Why did He do this?  Well as it says in verses 6-7 God did this so that in the ages to come He could show how great and powerful He is through the grace he showed us through His son.  In short, to show through His son how much He loves us and wants us to love Him back. 

To make sure we don't misunderstand what Paul is saying he tags a couple clarifying sentences on the end here.  This benefit of being in God's family is a gift, not something we can earn.  Paul says our actions cannot gain God's grace but in fact our actions are a product of God's actions and grace.  Meaning that every "good" thing that we do has been planned in advance by God. 

What an amazing and humbling passage!  It is important that we keep this at the forefront of our spiritual walk.  God is the reason for all good things in our lives and He deserves the credit.