From Death to Life, and All of Grace

When I wrote to the saints at Ephesus, I did not begin our story with our striving but with our graves. "And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked" (Ephesians 2:1-2). Dead — not sick, not weak, not merely wandering. A dead man cannot lift himself; he can only lie still and wait to be raised. So I named what we were: we "were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind" (Ephesians 2:3), following the course of this world, obeying the passions of our flesh. I do not spare you this, nor did I spare myself, for I was chief among such. You cannot know the height of mercy until you have seen the depth of the grave you were lying in.

And then, into that grave, two of the sweetest words ever written: "But God" (Ephesians 2:4). Hold on those two words. Everything turns there. "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" (Ephesians 2:4-5). Not when we reached for him — when we were dead. He did not wait for us to improve; there was nothing there to improve. He loved, and he raised, and he "seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:6). Where Christ is, there already, by grace, are you.

Then, lest anyone should miss it, I said it as plainly as I know how: "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). The faith itself is his gift. There is nothing here for you to be proud of and nothing here for you to be crushed by — no wage you earned, no ledger you must balance. You were dead; he made you alive. Boasting dies in that soil, and so does despair.

Yet do not think grace leaves us idle. Hear the last word: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10). You are not saved by good works — you are saved for them. He has a path laid out, prepared before you drew breath, and he made you new in order to walk it. So today, do not walk to earn his love; walk because you already have it. When you serve, when you resist the old passion, when you forgive — you are simply living out what he has already made you to be. Grace saved you; grace is now writing your life. Walk in it. Grace and peace to you.