7 day plan

New Life through Jesus

Day 5 of 7

NIV

Ephesians 2:5

5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

Reflection 

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This passage has been one of my favourites for a long time because it so dramatically helps us see how much Jesus does for us on the cross.  

We were once dead to him, because of our sin. And when you’re dead, you can’t do anything to try and make this relationship better again. 

So it’s only by what Jesus has done on the cross, by taking our transgressions with him, can we be saved. We are alive because of this!! 

We haven’t had to try harder but we’re good with God because of Christ and it’s COMPLETE. 

I really love CS Lewis’s illustration in The Great Divorce, where people, as they die, are grey and translucent, but as they head towards Jesus, they become brighter and fuller, and become joyfully who they’re meant to be, not a shadow anymore. 

We are in anxious times and so this passage helps us to rest, to stop and to see that we’re ok. 

We get to see that this work has been done, we don’t have to keep trying. Christianity isn’t a ‘try hard’ religion. 

We are able to have real peace because of what Jesus has done. And that’s such good news. So let’s just sit and rest as we pray together. 

Prayer 

Dear God, thanks so much for the work of Jesus on the cross. We are alive and fully alive because of this. We’re fully who we’re meant to be, and we can stop striving, we can just sit and be ok with you because of what you’ve done on the cross. It is complete! We don’t have to keep doing more to be alive with you. Thank you so much Jesus! 

 

Author: Julie-anne Laird 

Author Bio: Julie-anne worked for 20 years with Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students (AFES), now working with City to City Australia (CTCA) as a Specialist consultant – Evangelism and Mission. She is Chair of Lausanne Australia and is the Canon for Church Planting for the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne. 

The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.

Days

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2
3
4
5
6
7

Ephesians 2:1-22

Made Alive in Christ

1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Jew and Gentile Reconciled Through Christ

11Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— 12remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

14For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

19Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.