Great Love

March 12, 2017 Background Scripture: Ephesians 2:1 – 10 Lesson Passage: Ephesians 2:1 – 10 God has an endless supply of mercy for anyone who turns to Him by putting their faith in Jesus Christ. There is no one beyond the reach of God’s grace. This is the heart of the gospel message that Jesus preached. Another poignant message taught by Jesus is that he did not come into this sinful world to call the righteous but the unrighteous to repentance. Put another way, Jesus was born into this sinful world to save sinners from the eternal consequences of their sin. Let’s face it, many of us did not know that we were headed for destruction and yet we were cruising along and enjoying the trip. As we reflect on our lives when we were without Christ, we can clearly see sin and evil controlling us and causing us to become instruments of cruelty and sin. We were slaves to sin and somehow we thought we were in control and free to do as we wanted to do. One of the reasons sin is so deceptive is because Satan is transformed into an angel of light. Satan knows how to control us while making us think that we are in control. He also knows how to make us feel okay even with bad outcomes. We celebrate bad outcomes by having “pity parties”. Satan’s mission in this world is to steal, kill, and destroy. He has been doing it since man lived in the Garden of Eden. God pulled us from that world and delivered us into an eternal kingdom with a bright future. We were spiritually dead and not sensitive to God but God made us spiritually alive in Christ. Now we can see sin as sin because we are spiritually alive in Christ. We see others who are still spiritually dead and trapped in a life that is leading to eternal destruction. They are being controlled by the same spiritual forces that once controlled us. They are just as comfortable with sin as we were once. It is only because of the grace of God that we are not still destined for eternal damnation. God has given us heavenly positions in Christ where we will reign with him throughout eternity. None of this is a result of anything we have done or anything we deserve. I know that it is only the grace of God received through faith in Jesus Christ that has changed our eternal outcome. This is all a demonstration of God’s great love towards us. Throughout eternity, Christians will be the visible demonstration of God’s exceeding riches of grace. We must be careful to never forget that we were delivered from an eternal damnation that we deserved by a loving God who loved us far more than our finite minds can comprehend. With such a great love demonstrated by God in our lives, we ought to be concerned for others and pray that God will change their situation as He did ours. We should also be willing to affirm our love for God by allowing Him to use us to reach others with the message of hope that is embodied in the gospel. God showed great love towards us. We should respond by reflecting that love into the lives of those who are still being controlled by the spiritual forces that once controlled us and caused us to walk in disobedience. Isn’t it time that others learn of God’s great love? Robert C. Hudson February 18, 2017