"You were once dead because of your failures and sins. You followed the ways of this present world and its spiritual ruler. This ruler continues to work in people who refuse to obey God. All of us once lived among these people, and followed the desires of our corrupt nature. We did what our corrupt desires and thoughts wanted us to do. So, because of our nature, we deserved God’s anger just like everyone else.
But God is rich in mercy because of his great love for us. We were dead because of our failures, but he made us alive together with Christ. (It is God’s kindness that saved you.) God has brought us back to life together with Christ Jesus and has given us a position in heaven with him. He did this through Christ Jesus out of his generosity to us in order to show his extremely rich kindness in the world to come. God saved you through faith as an act of kindness. You had nothing to do with it. Being saved is a gift from God. It’s not the result of anything you’ve done, so no one can brag about it. God has made us what we are. He has created us in Christ Jesus to live lives filled with good works that he has prepared for us to do." Ephesians 2:1-10
God's kindness killed our old nature. Our old desires, our old natural selves was simply no much when it got face to face and it went toe to toe with God's everlasting grace, mercy and love. It was a no contest, a knockout, if not a tap out. We just had to surrender, for there was no answer for it, nothing we can do to fight against it.
For some, it may have taken a little while, hard headedness, stubborness, rebellion, a few more battles, concessions, pleadings but most will realize there was no other way to go about it.
And so when we finally surrender and come back to the One who made us, everything is changed - the old is gone and the new has come. Old guilt and old ways of thinking and even old habits try to pull us back to our old selves, but as we renew our minds day by day, we realize, who we once were is just not us anymore. Many times, we even ask ourselves why it took so long for us to be our old selves and why did we kept on doing what we were doing for that long.
Why have we been so blind if not dumb or dense for such a long time?
For most of us, it was just a waste of time. But for God, it was just the right time.
Perfect Timing
In other words, we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God already prepared for us in advance for us to do.
Like Queen Esther, we were created just for the time we are living in. We are here for a purpose, for a reason.
Today is the day to start to do those good works that were already lined up before the beginning of time for you to do. There are so many others out there, that were like you before the Lord found you in the same wretched condition, cleaned you up, made you whole and took you back.
Now, some days we may feel unworthy of all this goodness or feel we are in over our heads. But just remember our old selves are not us anymore. Old baggages, guilty thoughts and feelings, occasional missteps, blunders and bloopers, and the way other people see us are all irrelevant. In God's eyes we are perfectly righteous, in fact the apple of His eyes.
Walk in His Spirit. Talk with His Words. Love and kill others with God's kindness, for with this there is no countermove.
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