To You:

Hello, love.

I know you call me Grinch. And Scrooge. And Christmas-hater.

But none of those are true. I know you know this, and the joke can continue, but at the same time, I want you to always remember the reason that Christmas is a celebration. The ‘reason for the season’ is not ‘giving not receiving.’ In fact, that may be one of the biggest deceptions the celebration has given. There’s nothing we have that we can truly give, and by convincing ourselves that we are doing good because we are giving, we can convince ourselves right out of the actual purpose of Christmas. The purpose of Christmas is that we had nothing that we could give to God; we had no goodness; we had no love; we had no graciousness. We had nothing—we were ill-deserving, miserable Grinchy Scrooges—we hated God, though we would probably never admit it. And yet, God, in his magnificent love for us chose us, he pursued us, he rescued us, he cherished us even above his own life, he lavished upon us, and this is love. And it all began on a day which we celebrate on December 25^th. It all began in the most unlikely of circumstances. It was delivered without packages and bows; it was delivered without colors and lights. It wasn’t a very joyous occasion for most, and it was dirty and filthy. But on that night, on that wondrous night, a man was born who was unlike any other man because he was not just a man. He was God and man. And he came to earth with a single purpose: to do everything we could never do, and to not do anything we always do. He lived a perfect life through and through and then gave himself up to die on a cross at the hands of those he created and those he came to save. The cross has everything to do with Christmas because without the cross, Christmas is just the birthday celebration of a man who was smart and good and who is a good example for us. Without the cross, Jesus was just a man who lived 2000 years ago. But even in that manger, surrounded by wooden posts nailed together, Jesus the Messiah’s mission was marked out clearly. Born in weakness to save those who are weak. That is the glory of Christmas. That is what is so stupendous and remarkable and wonderful. God became a baby.

I know you sometimes get upset because I never seem to want anything. That’s just because I know there’s nothing more I could want. I want Christ. I want God. I want to know him deeper and deeper and more and more. I want to enter into heaven and see the one who saved me. I want to live at his side and work alongside and for him in perfect peace and joy. I don’t hate Christmas, I love Christmas—I hate that the deceiver has hijacked one of the most important events in history and made it all about the comfort and pleasure of humans. I’m not a Scrooge… I think we should always seek to love the less fortunate. I’m not a Grinch… I want my heart to always get bigger and bigger as I look at the faces of people.

I am grateful for the gifts that you give me. I am grateful because it shows me that you love me. And I am grateful because every time I do something like drink coffee, I can look at the mug with your face painted on it, and think about the second most wonderful gift God has given me. You. I thank God for you because you bring joy to my life day after day. Even if we get in an argument, there is no one else I would rather reconcile with than you. You were born a baby once too, and you grew up, and you so often choose to sacrifice yourself for me, and in this, you mirror our God. So I thank you. And I thank God. I thank God for giving me greater gifts than I could ever have imagined. I could never have come up with a sketch as beautiful as you or a list as loving as you. Thank you so much, my sweet Dandelion.

Merry Christmas.

I hope that I’ve chosen some gifts that show you how much I care for you. How much I respect your beauty and your curiosity and your cuteness. I hope that you will enjoy these gifts and think fondly of me anytime you use or see them. But even more than that, I pray that you will give thanks to our God who gives us every breath we breathe, and has promised to give us so much more.

Merry Christmas, dear.

I look forward to countless more celebrations to be shared with you in my arms.

Ephesians 2.11-22 ~ Day IV

My apologies for being so tardy in response.

Prayer is an interesting thing. But it is a source of strength, not the source, but a source. God has chosen to use the method of prayer as a way to accomplish his purposes, which is crazy, by the way. I am glad you are growing in prayer, though. And I’ll bet you continue to grow for a long time (everybody I know is still growing); the best kind of prayer is one that is absolutely littered with thoughts of Scripture. That doesn’t mean that you have to recite Bible verses every time, but it means that you are so saturated in Scripture that your words of prayer are the words God has given us about himself. That’s also why I took you through Psalm 23 a little while back. The most comforting prayers I have prayed are prayers as I read through a Psalm. I encourage you to do that too.

As far as Neddy goes, haha… You’re not off the hook just because of what you told me on the phone. Sorry, love. Here’s why: just because somebody goes to church does not make them a Christian (remember what I said in my last post, that churches can be full of false-Christians?). Remember also what I said concerning the book I was reading the other day—many people are not in church because they are concerned with spiritual things, but because they think it is good for their kids to go. Also, many, many people go to church not because they have faith in what Jesus has done, but because they think, “If I go to church enough, God will let me into heaven because it will outweigh the mistakes I’ve made.” That is why I am so concerned with people and why you think sometimes I am ‘judging’ someone. It’s because I know that many people don’t have faith in God, they have ‘works’ but works without faith is useless because we could never have enough works to satisfy the eternal wrath that our sin deserves. I am scared for people, and I never assume the best because if I simply assume the best (that they are a believer) when it is not true, then I am letting them slip right past me into hell, and I cannot stand by and watch that happen—it terrifies me, and it makes me astonishingly sad. But that is not the only reason you aren’t off the hook. Even if Neddy is already a believer in Christ, has the same Holy Spirit which this passage talks about, and is joined into the body of Christ. What does it say also? That we are to building each other up as a dwelling place for God. We are to encourage one another in our spiritual walks, and talk about God because that is worshipful. Talking about God with other people stimulates growth in ourselves and in whomever we are talking with. Talking about God is one of the most joyful things we can do on earth, and I don’t want to let you rob yourself of experiencing that joy this summer. Plus, Neddy needs some encouragement toward Christ. Even if she already ‘knows the answers’ as those who are near (Jews) did. Continue to pray for opportunities, courage, and wisdom. Mwah!

Yes to your question—we are reconciled in the body of Christ. He did kill the unpeace. And he did take on every sin and every temptation, but defeated it. He always understands because he has been there. And he loves you, he proved it on the cross. And he will always love you, even when you do sin. But when you do sin, let your sorrow lead you to repentance, to a change of thought about God and sin, and then the action will follow. God is in the business of transforming hearts, not of transforming actions. You can overcome all things through Christ because Christ has already overcome it all. Because he has overcome it all, you are free to lose it all and to take all of him through the Holy Spirit, God who indwells us and unites us to Christ. Look to forward to the day when we see Christ face to face, look forward to the day when we do not have to struggle with temptation or sin anymore, look forward to the day when we see the glorious light of God before our very eyes, look forward to the day, and live every day here on earth as an attempt to make it as close to heaven as possible. Fiducia.

Ephesians 2:11-22 Day 3

At first, I was so proud of myself for saying the right things.

Then as I reread your reply to my post, my spirits fell—because even though I said the right things, I have yet to do those things.

I prayed about Neddy today and for God to open her heart and give us the opportunities to talk about Him and give me wisdom to teach about Him. But I only prayed today… I haven’t since you asked me to and that’s bad.

Partly because I would forget but also partly because I was scared, I guess. And then I thought about the apostles and when the Holy Spirit came to them and they were able to speak so many languages to spread the gospel and how they did it without realizing, and I thought, “Sometimes that happens to me…” Sometimes I say something about Christ or life or anything and I’m like, “Where did that come from??” And it MUST be from the Holy Spirit. So I shouldn’t be scared because if something comes up, God doesn’t want me to bad mouth Him or teach people the wrong things, so He’ll make me say all the right things without me even knowing. And then I’ll learn, too, from myself from God, kinda… if that made sense.

This past week has been really hard, and I prayed a lot when it was hard… But I also realized that that is usually when I pray, when it is hard. And today, when I prayed about Neddy, I also apologized to God for only talking to Him when I need something or help. It’s like those friends that only talk to you when they are having drama and need advice. I always felt like, “Gosh, I don’t always want to hear about drama all the time!” and I know God WANTS to hear about our drama and WANTS to help us and give us advice, but He also wants to hear about all the good things and He wants to hear us give thanks to Him for all the things He’s put in our lives.

I guess I don’t know how that relates to the passage, but I wanted to share it because I felt like I was learning some more.

Another thing that I learned when I reread the passage again was when Paul is talking about Christ taking both and making them one and that “He may reconcile them both to God in one body.” In His body right? He is reconciling everyone’s sin and everyone’s “unpeace” in His own body and killing it… That’s why He had to die—to kill it, to kill the “unpeace.” And that’s why we are all one in Him. I always think about how my Sunday school teachers would say, “Christ took on every sin and temptation that you have ever had when He was on the cross.” Every single time I am tempted, Christ was tempted for ALL the times; every single time I have sinned, Christ took on the punishment of the sin for ALL the sins. AND HE DIDN’T SIN OR SUCCUMB TO THE SIN. He defeated it.

So I have no excuse. I can’t say, “You don’t understand!!” like I can to my parents… Because He does understand.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, because He did all things, and I have Him.

The cactus is one of the strongest flowering plants in the world. “As a class, succulents and cacti are slow growing and will withstand tremendous abuse. They do best with bright light, well-drained pots and little water. In the right placement, these are plants that truly thrive on neglect.” As Christians, we grow slowly, and must withstand tremendous abuse and persecution. We have the bright light of Christ. We learn how to thrive after draining ourselves of ourselves and neglecting our own needs and looking after the needs of others.

God has lesson to teach in everything on this earth…

Ephesians 2.11-22 ~ Day II

I know I already told you this on the phone, but I really enjoyed reading your post… it made me so happy. I’m sorry you didn’t get it at first, but glad that quickly changed.

Yeah, the Gentiles… us. All the people who were not ethnically Jewish (Gentiles also means ‘nations’). Now… it may get real confusing real quick. Ready? God created a nation through Abraham, they became called the Hebrews (later called Jews as a shortened form of Judahites). However… the covenant with Abraham entailed blessing all other nations (Gen. 12.1-3). So, even though the promise was to the Hebrew people, their purpose was not to be so inward-focused. They were supposed to live their lives and be a testimony to people, and then share the knowledge of God with people (when they weren’t commanded to kill them). Some people ‘became’ Hebrew, they were ‘sojourners’ or ‘engrafted into’ the people of God. For example Rahab, the Jericho prostitute, and Ruth, the Moabitess. However, even though they had become part of the people of God… there were still restrictions upon them regarding temple worship and such. Also… even  though the Hebrews were the chosen people of God… some of them weren’t actually the people of God. There are a lot of Hebrews in the Bible that don’t obey or love God, and they aren’t saved just because they were born into the right family… you have to have faith in God for salvation. This became a common misunderstanding among the people; they thought that because they were Hebrew, they could do whatever they want and still be Hebrew [in faith]. Sounds like a lot of Christians, huh? Sometimes this [real] Hebrew group was called the remnant. So, it’s similar to today: everybody who is not a Christian, is definitely not a Christian; some people in church are false-Christians and other people in church are real Christians.

We were once Gentiles… not part of the people of God, and we were separated from the Messiah, Christ Jesus—we didn’t even have the hope of a savior, of a promised deliverer who would come and save us from the evils of the world and the evils of ourselves. We were busy worshiping our own gods (Self) and had no hope of ever being free from the chains we placed on ourselves. But Christ’s blood has purchased passageway to God. He has brought us true peace because he is true peace. Much more than the ‘inner peace’ in Kung Fu Panda II… it isn’t just an acceptance of the past and of who we are, but it means genuine, unhindered satisfaction in God; a beautiful sensation grounded in faith of who God is and what is becoming of all creation: restoration. The Holy Spirit invades us and overwhelms us with the truth of the gospel. So much so that there is no barriers between even each other—the Jews and the Gentiles have become one and there is no more desperate anxiety over whether or not we can keep the law and the commandments (in the Jewish mind) nor is there any desperate anxiety over whether or not we have pleased ‘the gods’ and fear of their retribution if we do not do exactly as we are told (in the Gentile mind). Instead, we both are united in Peace (Christ), and we are brought into proper relationship with God as the first part of chapter 2 has explained.

Thus we are both citizens in God’s kingdom. Our name is in the book of Life. He has given us the Holy Spirit as a seal which guarantees that we will be saved ultimately. And we are being built up into the temple of God. The wall has crashed, no longer is their the curtain that separates the Holy of Holies from the people; that was ripped from top to bottom at Christ’s death. No longer is there any wall dividing the court of the Jews from the court of the Gentiles from the court of the women, but we all have direct access to God through the Spirit and the Son. You know, though, in all my years, I have never heard such a wonderful and apt explanation of being built together into this temple. You have said it far better than I could ever have hoped to say it myself. Yes… we build upon one another, particularly in people that we disciple and that disciple us, up to those who were first disciple by the apostles as Paul says in I Corinthians. And the Son is our cornerstone. (So we must be in the occupation of building on the foundation, which is why I asked you to pray for an opportunity to share God earlier, though I didn’t realize this passage would be evidence for it.)The Spirit indwells each of us individually, but He also indwells us as the body, the Church. Thank you for helping me understand.

God, help us to understand more and more, day by day, how your Church is one body regardless of class, ethnicity, sin-struggles, age, and even despite time and space; how those in the forbidden countries are one with us, and we need to help them and build them up spiritually as well. In the least, help us to pray for them since they appreciate our prayers more than water and bread itself. Help us to achieve unity with those in our local church as well as the visible representation of your entire Church—let us love the unlovable.

Ephesians 2:11-22 Day 1

So, ok…

Ok. Um… Ok.

No. I don’t know. This confuses me. Especially verses the-second-half-of-15-18. The whole peace part. I just don’t understand the wording.

OK I GET IT NOW. I read a couple different translations and now I understand.

I always forget about the Gentiles. I guess because we’ve never had to deal with that—only a certain race of people being allowed by God to be pure and holy. There are human restrictions given by governments and stuff, but not by God. So it’s weird to think that at one point, only Jews were good with God. 

Is it kinda the same thing with people that God hasn’t chosen to be with Him? Or is it different because it’s not like we know who He’s chosen compared to all the Jews knowing exactly who the Gentiles were?

But its cool to think that we can have peace because Christ broke down the wall between Jews and Gentiles. That was part of the law, right? Jews don’t associate with Gentiles—but then Christ came and abolished the law. He didn’t even just change it, He got rid of it entirely.

That’s hard to think about. No laws. Freedom. Freedom to do what we will. BUT, like the podcast that we listened to, the Intro one, what we do shows what we love and what we worship. So what do we do with our freedom? Do we worship the things that were once outlawed to us or do we worship the One who gave us the freedom?

It reminds me of Aladdin. Genie has three rules: no wishing for more wishes, no bringing people back to life, and no making people fall in love. And Aladdin wants so badly for Jasmine to fall back in love with him, but Genie can’t do it because of free will. We have free will, God gave it to us and He can definitely take it away and make us love Him, but He doesn’t. Because it always means so much more when it is coming from someone because they WANT to. My dad always makes me kiss him on the cheek after we got in a fight. Sometimes I was still mad at him, so the kiss was just to get him out of my room, but how much better would that kiss be if I really truly wanted to kiss him?

So do we worship the God that gave us the freedom from the law by still obeying His word? We should. The pastor with the crazy name from the podcast said that we need works because they allow us to see how much we love God. We can say we love God, and that we are saved, but we do everything opposite of what He wants—we are still saved, but maybe we don’t love God as much as we thought we did…

I don’t think I love God as much as I thought I did… or think I do…

So Christ is the cornerstone of our faith and church and “the building” (family of God?) and we are built upon it and being built together.

I don’t know the answer, but if you think about it, when someone is laying bricks to build a wall, all the bricks are seperate, and the cornerstone starts the wall. Each brick is glued onto the wall that started and is held by the cornerstone, but you can’t glue on a brick to nothing, you have to glue it onto another brick.

If we are bricks, we must be glued down to another brick (a mentor? someone to disciple us? or just someone to expose us to the word?), but we can’t stop there. Other bricks must get glued to us to continue the wall or there will be a huge hole. We need to be the mentor/disciple to others as well, and in that way, we are built up together in unison.

I could be wrong. I don’t know. I feel like I’m learning a lot. I like it.

Ephesians 2.1-10 ~ Day IV

First off, let’s talk about some of the questions you first raised regarding this text. No… churches don’t argue about the verse that says we are saved by faith. At least… protestant churches do not. This was the concept that fueled the reformation: saved by faith, not by works… so according to church statements and dogma, the Catholic and the Orthodox churches would say that works merit salvation to an extent; the Protestant churches would say that no work merits any part of salvation, but it is only by grace and only by faith. Now… when you get away from church statements and the way that most people who call themselves Christians live and what they would say… yes, you would find disagreement amongst people (but the disagreement is between those who read the Bible regularly and those who don’t). It may seem that I am making a broad generalization which cannot be substantiated, but if you search, you will find that what I say is true. The Bible is full of texts which advocate sola fide or “faith alone.” The whole Bible advocates it, but specific books or sections more clearly: the epistle to the Romans, to the Galatians, Ephesians, Titus, Hebrews, and moreover, the Old Testament en totale as well, Exodus and Deuteronomy and Jonah. The Bible’s resounding message is: there is nothing you could ever do that would make God love you, but he loves you anyway, so trust in him to make you righteous.

Are works important? Yes, but the distinction comes from this: works never merit salvation, but always flow out of a life which has already been saved. Do you need to do good works to be saved? No. Will you do good works once you are already saved? Yes. It stems from identity… before you are saved, you are a sinner, a wretch, dead in trespasses and sins, therefore, all you can ever do is sin, be wretched, trespass and sin against God, even supposed good works in this state are ‘filthy rags’ as Jeremiah says and ‘rubbish’ as Paul says, because without faith it is impossible to please God. However, once you have been saved, you have been made alive, and your identity is no longer yourself but your identity is Christ; that means his perfection is your perfection, his works are your works, his reign in heaven is your reign in heaven, his resurrection is your life (that’s why Ephesians has the preposition “in Christ” so many times—I dare you to count). Now our identity is Christ, and therefore we behave as Christ would behave, now we love people because Christ loved people, now we love the Father because Christ loved the Father, now we can control our anger because Christ controlled his anger, now we don’t spread rumors because Christ didn’t spread rumors. It’s because of our identity. We don’t do it perfectly yet, but it’s because we still have our flesh, and day after day our new identity is beating down our flesh habits. Notice that here and everywhere else in the New Testament, the flesh is no longer our identity but our habits. Paul says so many times: You are a believer now act like a believer; never does he say act like a Christian so that you can become one.

Just today, at youth group, there was a discussion about faith and works, and about the epistle of James which has that famous quote “faith without works is dead.” People were talking about how much of a struggle it is because they know works are important, but that works don’t give us salvation; and that faith is important, but that if you just say you believe and don’t do anything about it, then it isn’t real. I say that to say that you are not alone in the struggle… but it isn’t hopeless either. Doing God’s will is the joy of a believer; it makes them happy to do it because they know they are in right standing with God. They know that even if they do fail, it doesn’t have a bearing on their eternal standing with God because Christ did all of the work for us. He said, “It is finished!” And it is finished. Our lives of working to please God are over, and now we already please God! Remember what the first chapter of Ephesians said? That we make God happy. Also, Tullian Tchividjian, the podcast that we are going to listen to deals with this. He spent 14 weeks going through the epistle of James and has some helpful insight. But you’re right in your conclusion in which you say that it is all a gift from God. It’s true. It is all a gift from God.

Part of the point of the text, though, is that we are not the crappiest of crap! We WERE, but now we are not, now we are the masterpiece of God! Which comes from Jesus Christ. Any true believer in Jesus Christ who has rescued us is never again to be called crap or worthless, or anything bad because it isn’t true anymore. We were, but we are no longer, and we will never be again. Sometimes we behave like we are awful, but we are never awful in actuality for to call ourselves awful would be to call Christ and his sacrifice awful. It’s part of the reason I posted that video. God makes masterpieces! And we’re a work-in-progress.

We are used to earning things, but we could never earn salvation. You’re spot on there, love. We are not entitled to it. The only thing we are entitled to is death. A point of clarification, though, American-Justice-For-All is biblical: the Bible says thousands of times that we are to be just, that we are to seek justice for all people, that we are to deal righteously, that we are to break the bonds of captives. Justice is Good. I know what you are saying in that American Individualism is pretty unbiblical. And it is… the Bible puts a lot of emphasis on community and corporate identity, but it does press the argument for people to make choices themselves, individually. And it doesn’t condemn the concept of people getting what they deserve and work for… contrarily, it expects it and encourages it—God is to be praised for the amazing things he has done, pastors are to receive pay for giving their life wholly to study and teaching, people are to work and then to receive food for work. The time that it condemns it is when people think that they can reach God on their own accord. So… I know what you meant, just be careful. ;-)

Lastly on this post, God’s love isn’t blind. He sees us in all our wickedness and loves us anyway. What’s more, his love isn’t blind because if he just looked the other way when we sinned, he wouldn’t be a God worth serving. Instead, he looks to his Son when he sins, and that makes his love that much more wonderful. He sees everything… on his Son. But you are right in what you meant. And you are right again: it is extreme because it is so taboo.

As for your second post… I love you. I was encouraged reading what you wrote, and also at parts saddened (by the guys and their eternal destiny and attitude toward it). I am grateful for the work that God has done and is doing in your life. Just remember, that you are no longer a wretch, you are a daughter of the Most High God. He loves you more than I ever could. And he will continue to work in you through his Holy Spirit. Mwah!

Ephesians 2:1-10 Day 3

I cried.

When I watched the video I cried and sniffled and the works because I felt “Tommy’s” pain and embarressment and reluctance and pride and because I feel it everyday.

I know it’s not what we’re talking about, but it makes me think back to KJ’s classes and her saying how powerful theater can be. How powerful was that video? More powerful than someone simply saying it to you, and sadly more powerful than when most people read the actual words in the Bible (I’m included in this group) because our side of it comes out in the video as well as God’s side of it. We can relate more and it becomes more real than “pages in a book.”

I don’t think I would say that pride is really a sin I struggle with a lot, but in reality, I am prideful towards God in that I think I can do it, and I don’t need God’s help, forgiveness, and love. People say it all the time, its so common but its true. I rely on myself to get things done and whatever, so when it comes time to trust God to do what He will with me, I have to have my own say. I can’t even sit down to write a blog post about Him, because my own stuff is keeping me busy.

And I also think about the message we watched and how Platt said that we have to be open-minded when it comes to God. It makes me think about how God wants to make us His workmanship and chisel away all the nasty and chunky on us, and we have to be open-minded enough to know that we won’t know what we will look like or how we will end up, but to trust Him anyways. Because we’re not in control. Not even a little. We think we are—we’re not.

This morning on the radio, I was listening to the Kevin and Bean show on KROQ. Let’s just say that it’s not a family friendly show and I’m not going to make excuses about why I listen to it—it makes me laugh, they talk about current events, and they are truthful (most of the time). But something that one of them said (I can never tell them apart) got me thinking.

They talked about how that one guy was saying the world was going to end May 21st, tomorrow at 3pm, and they interviewed a fake Bob Dylan. They asked him why he was so happy if the world was ending and he said because he was born again and happy to go to heaven. The way they responded was simply acknowledgement of his truthfulness and saying “Oh, okay, okay, got it.” The tone was that of “yeah, we know that if you’re Christian, you are saved.” But if I were to make judgements, I would say they weren’t. [They had only 5 minutes prior talked about having sex (with multiple hookers) and gambling all their money away on their last day alive.] And the thing that made me think was, “How can they not want to change?” It’s like they know the truth and acknowledge its truth, yet they choose against it…

At the end of the fake interview they bid Dylan farewell with a, “See you in heaven!” I wonder if they really expect to get to heaven, if they plan to make changes in their lives or continue to live they way they are. I wonder if they are really just waiting for the world to end before admitting Christ into their hearts. I just wonder.

I’m not much better than they are, but if I am, it is because I have accepted Christ and I have decided to change my life—I still mess up a lot and I still feel guilty and unworthy, but I know (or try to know) that God will forgive me if I ask and allow me to spend eternity with Him in joy.

I was and am a wretch that was and continues to be saved by amazing grace.
It is my faith that asks.
It is God’s grace that gives.

Ephesians 2.1-10 ~ Day II, Take II

(I just hit the backspace key, and it went back in the browser.)

The gospel is never so clearly and succinctly portrayed as in this passage.

You! Were dead. Dead, dead, dead in the trespasses and sins. We were positively dead—we did everything we were not supposed to (trespasses), and we didn’t do everything we were supposed to do (sins). What’s more; it is not even that we did them once or twice each, but that we walked in them. Our entire life was characterized by them. We did not follow God, we followed ourselves being led by demons and pursuing our the desires of our fleshly, lusting hearts. We deserved the full corpus of the wrath of God, pent-up in the mighty right fist of the Almighty God.

And then comes the biggest but of the entire Bible, in my opinion. But GOD! God who is exuberantly rich in mercy, because of His love with which he loved us… One must stop to ponder why we are loved. Paul just got done explicating the wretched state of our beings—we were zombies, and yet the disgust associated therein doesn’t compare to the bile we were akin to. But God loved us… simply because He loved. That is remarkable. It was nothing of our loveliness, but it was His self-willed determination to love. Insane! {God… you seem to be insane, but if the definition is “out of my mind,” You would hardly protest: You are out of my mind; I don’t understand you en totale.} So God loved us to the point of making us alive together with Christ. We were dead—there was nothing we could do! Last time I heard of self-relied CPR was, well, never! We couldn’t make ourselves alive, but God did! In Christ. He raised us up with him, uniting us in his resurrection, and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, uniting us in his ascension and enthronement. This hearkens back to Ephesians 1 that we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus! Wow…

And what was the purpose? We already established there was not external reason for God to love us in the first place, but even so there is a purpose attached at the end. So that God could show, reveal, manifest His innumerable majesties and loves. Like a bridegroom would place his bride on a pedestal to exonerate and show her to all, so God has done with us, to show His love to Christ in the Trinitarian love and to the world. But the glory [attention/honor] all goes to God because we know what this bride looked like before the wedding day. This is magnificent. Stupendous. God’s self-determined love results in the best possible outcome for us, His Church, and for Christ and the Holy Spirit and the Father as well. This truly is amazing.

Then there’s the summary statement, verses 8 through 10. For by grace you have been saved through faith. Yes. It is all by grace, the grace of God. We receive this grace through faith. And faith only. Not works, not works at all—for a dead man cannot work. The verse itself says “this is not your own doing; it is the gift of GOD, not a result of works…” It’s all God, and none of me. The grace is from God. The faith is from God. And we have been made his workmanship. Now we can do good works, but they aren’t our works, they are God’s works, for he prepared them for us, and he enables us do them by first bringing us to life, then commissioning us for work in Christ. I find the last clause really amazing: that we should walk in them. It turns the passage around for the full reversal. Whereas prior, we walked in trespasses and sins, now we walk in the works of God by the grace of God.

I have seen a really helpful video that portrays verse 10 very well. I am posting it.

I’ll get to your questions and help you understand some of your own statements next time.

I love you dearest. Even though you were once a zombie, you have been made beautiful in God’s sight. And I love you, even when some zombie habits return. I thank God for what he has done and is doing in your life, and I’m glad to be a part of it.