For God�s help for President-Elect Barack Obama�s choice for Secretary of Veteran�s Affairs, General Eric Shinseki, so America�s military veterans will receive the support and care they need
If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!
�Ecclesiastes 4:10
Loving God, I praise You that You have made us with a need for fellowship; fellowship with You and fellowship with each other. Thank You for answering this deepest need of our hearts through Your presence, and by making us more sensitive to the needs of those who have sacrificed for our freedoms as Americans.
O God, our veterans, both of wars past and conflicts present, need someone to help them up! We ask that You would guide and strengthen President Obama�s choice for Secretary of Veteran�s Affairs, Gen. Eric Shinseki as he steps up to lead. May he be a true friend our nation�s veterans so we may improve our ability to care for their mental and physical health. Lord, we thank You for our veterans and their willingness to stand in harm�s way on our behalf, and ask that Gen. Shinseki will have insight and wisdom in this position. We give You praise, in the name of Jesus, amen.
Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways!
You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;
you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you. Verses 1-2
Ephesians 2:1-6
In the first part of this passage, Paul speaks of the "old stagnant life." How do you relate to that? I frequently still see it creeping into my existence. However, I know that it has nothing to do with real life. Paul speaks of letting the world, "which doesn't know the first thing about living, tell [us] how to live." It doesn't take much to see the truth of this. All you have to do is watch an "entertainment" channel on tv for a little while. All of these people that we "worship"...they look like they are "living," and people adore them and look up to them. But they are deader than a doornail. They have no clue what "living" really is. Yet I find myself sucked into "that old stagnant life" often. However, by the grace of God, he brings me back to reality.
The book asks how difficult it is to believe that the "old stagnant life" is not in sync with "the first thing about living." I have no difficulty at all believing that. But then, I've been reading/studying the Bible and trying to live this life for many, many years, now. Hopefully, I've managed to achieve a marginal level of maturity and can see through the lies of the "un-life."
Verses 4-6 change the direction of the topic. Here is one of those famous "But God" sections. The beginning of verse 1 and the beginning of verse 4 in the ESV go like this: "You were dead...But God..."
Isn't that glorious?? There's the gospel message right there! Ok...maybe not enough detail, because there's no description of what Christ did, but it is the gospel in five words. "You were dead...But God..." I know I've probably overstated this, but I'll keep doing it...those are my two favorite words in the whole Bible. They are words of hope. If it were not for "But God..." I would still be dead in sin. "You were dead" would become "You are still dead!"
What did God do, according to Ephesians 2:4-6? He embraced us. Wrapped his arms around us. Hugged us. He made us alive! He took dead people and made them alive. And, since a dead person can do nothing be lay there and be dead, he had absolutely no help from us! It was all him! After he made us alive, he picked us up and placed us in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus.
So God is a God of great mercy! He is a God of love. He gave us something we could not earn and did not deserve. He made us alive, truly alive!
How difficult is it for you to believe God is like that? It is not hard at all for me. I guess the reason I can believe this so readily, is that I have gotten a first-hand look at my own wretchedness. I am aware of the horribleness of my own sin. Therefore, I see the great mercy that God has lavished on me first-hand. I have experienced it! And that is something that no skeptic can ever take away from me. I know what I know, and I know that Christ has made me truly alive.
Grace and peace, friends!