Weekly Devotional 5-15-17 The End of Alienation
The apostle Paul reminded the Ephesian believers that before they had been regenerated to newness of spiritual life, they like all other men, were so alienated from God that God saw them as being dead toward Him and having no desire for a relationship with Him. We read of this from Ephesians 2:1-5 NKJV. “1And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.” This, of course, was not exclusive to those of Paul’s day, but has been and is true of all humanity; a sad commentary for sure. One does not have to look beyond himself to this truth. As Paul was lead to write in another letter;
“10bThere is none righteous, no, not one; 11There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God 12They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” 13Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit; The poison of asps is under their lips; 14Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. 15Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16Destruction and misery are in their ways 17And the way of peace they have not known. 18There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Romans 3:10b-18 NKJV). A few years earlier Paul would have had to include himself with the addressees of this letter, but by God’s grace He was brought out of this spiritual darkness.
Applying this same letter to ourselves, before we were made spiritually alive, it would read: “There is none of us righteous, no, not one; None of us understands; None of us seeks after God. We have all turned aside; We have together become unprofitable; There is none of us who does good, no, not one. Our throat is an open tomb; With our tongues we have practiced deceit; The poison of asps is under our lips; Our mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Our feet are swift to shed blood; 16Destruction and misery are in our ways 17And the way of peace we have not known. 18There is no fear of God before our eyes.” Who can truthfully deny these things?
But thanks to God “4who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, 6and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them”(Ephesians 2:6-10 NKJV).
We who are the recipients of God’s grace are no longer alienated from Him. We have peace with God. How thankful we should be because as the passage states, “we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works,” works that are contrary to our before state of being. Are you such a one, or are you still alienated from Him? We at Transforming Power, would be glad to talk with you about these things.
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Transforming Power; The Work of God on Behalf of Man
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