The Joy of Glory

Ephesians 2:1-10 (click here)
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins…

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved…

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:1, 4-5, and 8-9)

Reflection
When each of my children were born, I made a short music video about their entrance into the world… nothing graphic! They love going back and watching the videos… but imagine this…

Imagine them trying to brag about how great a job they did being born! Imagine them boasting and bragging about all the hard work they did through the labor process!

Such boasting sounds ludicrous, right? And trust me, it would take about 0.2 seconds for their momma to put them in their place about who had done the work to make their birth a reality.

Being born is one of the main metaphors the New Testament uses to describe our entrance into the family of God! The other primary metaphor is that of resurrection (which we see in Ephesians 2)… and the point of both these words pictures is obvious… they eliminate boasting!

You cannot boast about being raised from the dead any more than you can boast about being born! Both of these things are not things you do, but things that are done to you! These are gifts! They are grace!

We were dead in our sins! Not really sick… no… DEAD!

But God was rich in mercy and showed great love toward us by making us alive! He did that! Sheer grace! If you love Jesus then you have experienced a resurrection miracle!

You ever wondered what it would be like to experience a miracle… to be raised from the dead? YOU HAVE experienced that exact miracle! You wouldn’t love Jesus otherwise! Your affections would still be dead to him and alive to sin!

If you love Jesus… you have been raised from the dead! “O praise the one who paid my debt and raised this life up from the dead!”

Ephesians 2:1-10 is God’s short music video of your spiritual birth! Watch it over and over again and see if it doesn’t eliminate boasting and increase worship!

*All previous devotionals may be found at www.thejoyofglory.com
*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.