Christianity Oasis Forum

[cimi]

February 11
Wednesday


BACK FROM
THE DEAD

READ:
Ephesians 2:1-10
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Even when we were
dead...[God] made
us alive together with
Christ" (Eph. 2:5
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Can a man be officially alive after being declared legally dead? That question became international news when a man from Ohio showed up in good health after being reported missing more than 25 years earlier. At the time of his disappearance he had been unemployed, addicted, and hopelessly behind in child support payments. So he decided to go into hiding. On his return, however, he discovered how hard it is to come back from the dead. When the man went to court to reverse the ruling that had declared him legally dead, the judge turned down his request, citing a 3-year time limit for changing a death ruling.

That unusual request of a human court turns out to be a common experience for God. Paul's letter to the Ephesians tells us that though we were spiritually dead, God "made us alive together with Christ" (Ephs. 2:1,5). Yet declaring and making us spiritually alive was a deeply painful matter for God. Our sin and its consequent spiritual death required the suffering, death, and resurrection of God's Son (vv.4-7).

It's one thing to show evidence of spiritual life. Having been declared alive in Christ, we are called to live in gratitude for the immeasurable mercy and life given to us. __Mart DeHaan

```````````````Father in heaven, our hearts are full of gratitude for`````````````````````
```````````````the way You reached out to us when we were dead``````````````````````
```````````````in our sins. May we live joyfully and with unending``````````````````````
`````````````````appreciation for what You did to give us life.`````````````````````````
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Jesus died that we might live.

************************************Today's Bible Reading __ Ephesians 2:1-10**********************************
1 And you He made alive,
who were dead in trespasses
and sins, 2 in 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,

3 among 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.


4 But God, who is rich in
mercy, because of His great
love with which He loved
us, 5 even when we were
dead in trespasses, made us
alive together with Christ
(by grace you have been
saved), 6 and raised us up
together, and made us sit
together in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus, 7 that
in the ages to come He
might show the exceeding
riches of His grace in His
kindness toward us in
Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace
you have been saved
through faith, and that not
of yourselves; it is the gift
of God, 9 not of works, lest
anyone should boast. 10 For
we are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for
good works, which God
prepared beforehand that
we should walk in them.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Here Paul twice says "by grace you have been saved" (vv.5,8).
Salvation is God's gift to us. While we are not saved by good works,
they are the result of God's redemptive work in us (v.10; col. 1:10;
Titus 2:14; 3:14).