You Were Dead
You were dead through the trespasses
and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following
the ruler of the power of the air; the spirit that is now at work among those
who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our
flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature
children of wrath, like everyone else. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of
the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses,
made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised
us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace
in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through
faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God – not the result
of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in
Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of
life.
You were dead, and so was I. Even when
John Newton piloted a slave ship he got to a point when he knew he was dead. It
took a terrifying storm to bring him to that point. He turned from his evil
ways when he asked the Lord to have mercy on him and those on the ship. John
Newton’s life was changed forever. He wrote Amazing Grace. John Newton
experienced God’s saving grace in a personal way. He left the slave trade and
entered Christian ministry. Amazing Grace was an amazing testimony to his own experience.
God’s Spirit convicts us of sin and
gives us the power to forsake it. When we receive Christ as our Savior, He does
for us what we are powerless to do in our own strength. That is Amazing Grace.
those who have no
claim to grace.
Our Daily
Bread –