Alive With Christ

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But 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. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 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.

Ephesians 2:1-10

Pressed into service in the Royal Navy, John Newton was dismissed for insubordination and turned to a career trafficking in slaves. Notorious for cursing and blasphemy, Newton served on a slave ship during the cruelest days of shipping. He eventually became a sea captain.

A dramatic conversion on the high seas set him on the path to grace. He always felt a sense that he was undeserving of his new life. He became a rousing evangelical preacher and eventually a leader in the abolitionist movement. We also know him as the man who was the author of “Amazing Grace.”

He described any good in himself as an outworking of God’s grace. In doing so, he stands with King David, who was a murderer and adulterer. He stand with Peter, who was a coward, and he stands with a persecutor of Christians, who became the apostle Paul.

This same grace is available to all who call upon God.

Lives rooted in God’s unchanging grace can never be uprooted.

Our Daily Bread – September 29, 2014