The Paradox of God’s Grace and Mercy – Ephesians 2
By Darrell Creswell
http://darrellcreswell.wordpress.com/2014/06/10/the-paradox-of-gods-grace-and-mercy-ephesians-2/
All the high hopes, careful planning, and great aspirations are worth nothing if we’re not walking in His path, surrendered to His will. Surrendering to His will entails our letting go of the things of the flesh that we sometimes stubbornly cling to. Many times we try to bargain with God to retain something that we are afraid to let go of. If we cling to things that Jesus rescued us from on the cross, we reject the cross in part by holding on to the things that grace has released us from.
We must resist the temptation to bring back to life the things which Christ died for. We are born again by His grace and dead to our sins. Colossians 3:3 tells us that we died, and our life is now hidden with Christ in God. The life we now how have is by His grace and our life comes by His death. The salvation imparted to us comes by dying with Christ, and by the power of His saving grace we also arise with Him.God’s grace should be the steering wheel that guides our life, not a spare tire to be used in case of emergency. In the path that God has laid out for our lives there will be change that we must embrace. There is no pain in change or growth in the Lord; the pain comes when we resist that change. Sacred was the life that was so freely given for our sins, and sacred is our life by His grace that we share with our Redeemer.We all know in our hearts what God requires of us. But because of our own will, we do not always do it. It is usually the love of self that causes us to struggle with submitting to the will of God. There are many that fail to appreciate the greatness of God’s grace because of how easily the gift is given. We receive mercy as easily as a beggar receives bread. The mercy of God is not given to us to flatter our own egos but to give us life and that more abundantly.
Much of new age theology fails to respect the power of God’s grace. Just because it is a free gift does not make it any less precious. It is precious in that for salvation to be given to creation, the Creator had to lay down his life. By this gift God asks us to die, while all we want to do is live. Within this mystery we find that surrender of ourselves defines our victory in Christ by His grace. Becoming alive by dying is a paradox, a contradiction that is only found in God’s mercy. It was true with Christ as He was crucified and arose and it is true in us as we die to our sins and are saved by His grace.
Ephesians 2:2-5 You were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
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Darrell:
Love and Forgiveness…indeed, one of the greatest acts of God on behalf of man! Bless you for this message. ~Zoey
Amen, thanks Darrell.
One of the greatest paradoxes of human nature is our incapacity to fully appreciate and honor God’s grace. Thank you for this wonderful post.
Thanka. To Darrell.
Reblogged this on U.S. Constitutional Free Press.