Essays in Ephesians #10

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in 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, Ephesians 2: 4-6 ESV

Occasionally, the Holy Spirit brings a passage to life so fully that it’s almost impossible to write about it. For me, each phrase in this text triggers worship and gratitude to God. So instead of writing about it poorly, I’ve chosen quotations from others to jump start your own reflection, gratitude and worship. Ponder the words with me—and add your own thoughts to  your own reflection, gratitude and worship.

But God, being rich in mercy —

Mercy is God’s supply system for every need everywhere. Mercy is that kindness, compassion and tenderness, which is a passion to suffer with, or participate in, another’s ills or evils in order to relieve, heal and restore. It accepts another freely and gladly AS he is and supplies the needed good of life to build up and bring to peace. It is to take another into one’s heart   JUST AS HE IS and cherish and nourish him there. Mercy takes another’s sins and evils and faults as its own, and frees the other by bearing them to God.
(from What the Bible Teaches About Mercy by Rex B. Andrews, © Zion Faith Homes)

Because of the great love with which He loved us—

God does not have love or give love. God is love. Fierce, total, pure and full He is the source of all love. His love is perfect, inexhaustible, and unending— His love is merciful and just —He judges jealously all refusals and failures to love. It is holy. It is great.

. . .The Holy Spirit descended on me in a manner that seemed to go through me, body and soul. I could feel the impression, like a wave of electricity . . . it seemed to come in waves, and waves of liquid love . . .as the breath of God. . . . No words can express the wonderful love that was shed abroad in my heart. It seemed to me that I should burst. I wept aloud with joy and love . . . . These waves came over me, and over me, and over me one after the other, until I recollect I cried out, “I shall die if these waves continue to pass over me.” I said to the Lord, “Lord, I cannot bear any more.”
(from The Original Memoirs of Charles G. Finney, eds. G.M. Rosell and R.A.G.         Dupuis, © Zondervan 1989, P.16)

Even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ

The fundamental sin nature inborn in the human race is our independence from God. It is erased only as we give up all rights to ourselves and reunite with God in loving dependence.

 Departure from God’s love is the common nature of all sin and when the departure from this love was associated with the desire to progress in the direction of a selfishly appointed end, rather than the end divinely appointed, this was the common nature of the primal sin of the world-spirit and of humanity.” (from Franz Delitzsch quoted on-line at https://www.biblestudytools.com/classics/delitzsch-system-of-biblical-psychology/the-fall/the-sin-of-the-spirit-and-the-sin-of-the-flesh.html)

Father, may our hearts be broken with repentance, and filled with joy in humble love with You.

by grace have you been saved

I have exhausted every wickedness, but I have not exhausted Your mercy. On the contrary, Your mercy takes pleasure in overcoming my unworthiness. It rises like a flood over a dike. In return for evil, You give me back everything good. And since You are giving Yourself, dear God, to one who has sinned so much, and You are flooding me with grace, shall I refuse to carry my cross along with Your Son, who is righteousness and holiness itself?
(from Meditations on the Heart of God, Francois Fenelon, in The Complete Fenelon, trans. and edited by Edmonson and Helms, Paraclete Press, 2008)

and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus

What does it really mean to sit down? When we walk or stand we bear on our legs al the weight of our own body, whereas when we sit down our entire weight rests upon the chair or bench on which we sit. We grow weary when we walk or stand, but we feel rested when we have sat down for a while. In walking or standing we expend a great deal of energy, but when we are seated we relax at once, because the strain no longer falls upon our muscles and sinews but upon something outside ourselves. So too in spiritual things, to sit down is simply to rest our whole weight—our load, ourselves, our future, everything—upon the Lord. We let him bear the responsibility and cease to carry it ourselves.
(from A Table in the Wilderness, Daily Meditations, June 10, by Watchman Nee, ©Angus I. Kinnear, Tyndale House, 1978.)

May it be!