Monday, May 24, 2010

The Road Through Ephesus... Freedom and Favor Ephesians 1:2

I wasn't so sure what I would write about this verse so I decided to look up the words grace and peace. But before we start I want to share the verse with you. Today I'm quoting from the message because I just love the way it's said.

Ephesians 1:2

"I great you with the grace and peace poured into our lives by God our Father and our Master, Jesus Christ."

So, grace and peace. Most Christians know what these words mean, but do they truly understand them? One of the definitions I found of grace is God's favor or help. Paul is saying that the Ephesian church has God's favor and help, not in just a small quantity but as the message paraphrase says "poured into our lives".

Not only that, but when I looked up the definition for the word peace, one idea that kept coming up was that peace is freedom. When you are truly free, you are truly at peace. And again, we don't get just a small portion of freedom, but rather it is poured into our lives by God.

Think about it. God has literally poured help and freedom into our lives. He is standing, waiting for us to ask for his help, the same help, the same grace that he has already poured into our lives. He is offering us freedom from all that holds us captive. Every sinful thought, every sinful action that keeps us captive, and he has literally covered us in his freedom.

Paul was reminding the Ephesian church who they were. That they were free in Christ, that they had God's help and favor in their lives. In reminding the Ephesians who they were in Christ, Paul reminds us that we who know Jesus and live in him have his grace (favor and help) and peace (freedom) in our lives.

So let's live like it. Let's live like we have God's favor, help and freedom in our lives. And let's show those same qualities in our actions to the people around us. So, be full of God's grace and peace, because he's already poured it into your life.

1 comment:

Robin said...

Awesome blog Holly! It really looks nice.
You are absolutely right that most Christians don't really understand grace and peace. I know I catch myself just glossing over the words when I read them in the Bible. Perhaps living in a country where there is so much prosperity and so little need we begin to think that we are entitled to such extravagant blessings. We don't really see that the reason we are so blessed is because God CHOOSES to bless us. We actually deserve death, but He offers us life. What an amazing thing God has done for us.