Liz’s Morning Devotional: Scripture selected from Upper Room
November 19, 2022
Read Ephesians 2:1-10
1 At one time you were like a dead person because of the things you did wrong and your offenses against God. 2 You used to live like people of this world. You followed the rule of destructive spiritual power. This is the spirit of disobedience to God’s will that is now at work in persons whose lives are characterized by disobedience. 3 At one time you were like those people. All of you used to do whatever felt good and whatever you thought you wanted so that you were children headed for punishment just like everyone else. 4 - 5 However, God is rich in mercy. He brought us to life with Christ while we were dead as a result of those things that we did wrong. He did this because of the great love that he has for us. You are saved by God’s grace! 6 And God raised us up and seated us in the heavens with Christ Jesus. 7 God did this to show future generations the greatness of his grace by the goodness that God has shown us in Christ Jesus. 8 You are saved by God’s grace because of your faith. This salvation is God’s gift. It’s not something you possess. 9 It’s not something you did that you can be proud of. 10 Instead, we are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives.
Good Morning, We are saved by God’s grace because of our faith!
Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Jesus paid in full for our sins with the giving of His life.
Have you ever gotten ready to pay your bill and found out that it had already been paid? How did you feel? Did you complain or did you ask yourself “what did I do to deserve that?” Most likely you did not complain! As far as being worthy of having someone cover your bill, it’s possible that you helped someone and this was their way to repay you.
When we consider the gift of eternal life, we must realize that we did nothing to earn this gift. We can not buy “a stairway to heaven!” In fact, it is quite the opposite, we must admit our sinfulness and humble ourselves as we accept the gift of salvation. God chooses us! Our response is to choose to walk a life of faith. God created us and lifts us up to be the beings for which he planned.
We certainly cannot do this on our own. Think of all of the times that you have made mistakes and treated others poorly. We are sinners! Only by God’s grace, can we turn from our sinful ways and join the fellowship of believers. Accepting Christ is not the end game, it is only the beginning of a life of service through which we work to bring others to Christ. The good news is that even when we stumble and fall, Christ is there to lift us up and help us regain our footing. Once we were like the dead, but now we are living a new life in Christ. Praise be to God!
Gracious God, Thank You for loving us. We love You. How can we say thank you in a way that is equal to the gift that we have received? All you ask in return is for us to love You and love one another. Thank You! In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen
Thought for the day: I am the beneficiary of God’s love and mercy.
Our God is an Awesome God! Pastor Liz
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