The Great Omission?
Often, we get so excited (rightly) about the good news of salvation by grace through faith that we overlook (wrongly) what salvation leads to: a flourishing life doing the good works God has prepared for us (Ephesians 2:8-10). We are not saved by works, but for works, that we might participate in God’s work in the world.
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Unlimited Grace for You
We are saved by God’s grace, given through Jesus Christ. This grace is not limited, but is immeasurable. No matter what we do, we cannot exhaust God’s grace for us in Christ.
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Salvation: Past, Present, Future
According to Ephesians, we “have been saved” by God’s grace. This means we began to experience God’s salvation in the past, but we continue to experience his salvation in the present. We are being saved now as God heals our brokenness and replaces it with the gift of his wholeness.
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Salvation and Shalom
According to Ephesians, salvation comes by God’s grace. By grace, God is mending your brokenness, healing your wounds, and helping you be the whole person he intends you to be. God wants you to experience life in greater abundance and to work through you to foster wholeness in this world, even as you await the joy of heaven. Thus, your salvation isn’t just about your private life, your life in church, or your life beyond the grave. God’s salvation touches everything you do in life: at work, in your neighborhood, and in your commitment to “act justly and love mercy” as you “walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).
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Experience Salvation Today
What does it mean to be saved? According to Ephesians 2, salvation is so much more than simply going to heaven after you die. God’s salvation through Christ begins to transform your life right now, in this age and this world . . . or at least it should. Because God has saved you, you can begin to live differently in this moment, wherever you are; at work or at home, in a boardroom or a classroom, in your workshop or your studio, your church or your neighborhood, with colleagues or your family, with friends or strangers.
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Words to Change Your Life
Some of the most important, life-changing words you’ll ever encounter are found in Ephesians 2:8-10: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
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God’s WHY
God has poured out “the incomparable riches of his grace” upon us because he loves us, to be sure; but also so that, through us, God might begin to show the world just how gracious he is. If we treat all human beings with profound dignity no matter their gender, race, ethnicity, locality, lifestyle, affluence, or ability, then God’s grace will shine through us brightly.
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If We’ve Been Raised with Christ Already, Shouldn’t Our Lives Be Perfect?
According to Ephesians 2, through Christ we are already in Heaven in a sense. Yet we are still very much of this earth. We live in a mixed reality, experiencing God through the fullness of the Spirit and at the same time experiencing the limitations and pains of our physical existence. Yet, as we sample a bit of Heaven in advance, we are inspired by the certain hope of God’s good future.
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Whole Lotta Love
As human beings, we were created with the capacity to love and the desire to be loved. Because of sin, our God-given yearning for love can lead us down all sorts of dead end roads. We can be led to believe that we’ll be loved if we are beautiful, successful, promiscuous, or wealthy. Yet our search for a “whole lotta love” will never be fulfilled until we turn to the God who loves, not only the whole world, but also each and every one of us individually and intimately.
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Zombies No More!
Don’t be a zombie anymore! If the Apostle Paul were alive today, he might very well have written that in his letter to the Ephesians. There, he talks about how even though we are alive, in a way we are also dead—dead spiritually. We are rather like zombies. But the good news is that, through Christ, we can begin to be fully alive. Zombies no more!
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God’s Rich Mercy for You
Mercy is about getting, not the bad we deserve, but the good we don’t deserve. According to Ephesians 2, we are in desperate shape, already dead because of our sin. But the good news is that God is rich in mercy. When you need God’s help because you have utterly messed up your life, God has the resources to help, more than you will ever need. This is good news, extraordinary good news.
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The Best News Ever in Two Small Words
The good news of Jesus Christ can be captured in two small words: But God! We were stuck in sin, but God. We wondered if life was worthwhile, but God. Our lives were empty, but God. We felt unloved, but God. We experienced injustice, but God. We were belittled because of our race, but God. We were raised to think less of people who didn’t look like us, but God. No matter what you’re facing today, no matter how overwhelming it may seem, hear again the good news for you: But God!
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Living in Enemy Territory
According to the Bible, we live in enemy territory, so to speak. We are caught in a world that opposes God, not just in human hearts, but in systems and institutions. Scripture helps us to see the world as it is—not so that we might abandon it, but so that we might participate in God’s work of redeeming the world and its people.
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God Can Do More Than You Imagine! (Part 2)
Over the past couple of years, I’ve heard from many of you about the things God has been doing in your lives. You’ve testified to the reality of God’s indwelling power. I wish we could somehow gather all Life for Leaders readers together so we could share all that God has done. But it would be hard to sit down with 7,500 people at a time. And listening to everyone share would take a long time. So we don’t get to hear how God has been at work in each other’s lives. We have to take it on faith.
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Grace and Love that Never Go Away
This letter began with God choosing us before the foundation of the world (1:4). It ends with the hope of an endless, undying, incorruptible future, one that is indeed filled with God’s grace for us and our love for Christ.
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