Ephesians 2:3-5 “The corruption that was in us from birth was expressed through the deeds and desires of our self-life. We lived by whatever natural cravings and thoughts our minds dictated, living as rebellious children subject to God’s wrath like everyone else. But God still loved us with such great love. He is so rich in compassion and mercy. Even when we were dead and doomed in our many sins, he united us into the very life of Christ and saved us by his wonderful grace!” Today's verse reminds us that we all have original sin and although Baptism takes that away from us, our thoughts and actions can allow sin back into our world. Even though we have all this sin in our lives God still loves us with such great love. We are saved by His grace! Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
We Are Saved By God’s Grace
Ephesians 2:3-5 “The corruption that was in us from birth was expressed through the deeds and desires of our self-life. We lived by whatever natural cravings and thoughts our minds dictated, living as rebellious children subject to God’s wrath like everyone else. But God still loved us with such great love. He is so rich in compassion and mercy. Even when we were dead and doomed in our many sins, he united us into the very life of Christ and saved us by his wonderful grace!”
I love verses like this because when the Bible points out the things I am doing wrong, I know I am not the only one doing them. If I were the only one, or if only a few of us were living by whatever natural cravings and thoughts our minds dictated, then God wouldn’t put it in the Bible. The verse starts by saying, “The corruption that was in us from birth was expressed through the deeds and desires of our self-life.” We were all born with original sin. Adam and Eve were born into a perfect world. There was no sin; there was only love, and they got to stroll through the garden at night with the Lord. Their heavenly Father would come to visit them and talk with them.
However, they were tricked by the serpent and ate the fruit from the tree of good and evil. I don’t know if they were misled or just enticed. The devil was laying out a pretty good picture of how God was trying to control them by telling them not to eat that fruit. The serpent told them they would be like God if they ate the fruit. Who wouldn’t want to be like God, right? So they ate the fruit. The interesting thing is that they were already like God. God made us in His likeness and image. They were already like God. However, once they ate that fruit, sin entered the world, and it didn’t want to leave.
This is the corruption from birth that the verse is talking about. We are all born with original sin, and that is why Catholics believe you should be baptized as soon as you are born. Once you are baptized with the Holy Spirit, sin can’t say, it must leave. However, because we are human, our choices can allow sin to creep back into our lives. This sin that creeps back into our lives is expressed through our deeds and desires of our self-life. When sin creeps back in, we tend to live for ourselves instead of for God.
I was listening to an Encounter Ministry talk yesterday, and the teacher talked about how she had a niece or a friend’s child whom she spoke to often. When the girl was little, my teacher would say things like, “How did you get to be so beautiful?” or “How did you get to be so nice?” and the little girl would say, “That’s just the way God made me.” There is such an innocence in this response. However, once we get a bit older and the world corrupts our thinking, and our sin crowds our minds, then we forget that this is how God made us and that He made each one of us just as we are for a reason.
Once we allow sin to creep back in with our deeds and desires, our thoughts get distorted. We start to hate who we are, what we look like, what we sound like, and everything else about us. I was at a women’s conference once, and the speaker said that she asked everyone in the audience who hated their body to stand up, and 90% of the women stood up. She didn’t ask, who would change something about their body if they could? She didn’t ask, who dislikes something about their body? She asked who hated their body, and 90% of them stood up. This is the work of the enemy. We are not born hating our bodies. We are born with so much love, and then this broken world pollutes our minds and bodies.
The line in the verse says, “ We lived by whatever natural cravings and thoughts our minds dictated, living as rebellious children subject to God’s wrath like everyone else.” This pretty much sums up my struggle. I have so many cravings and thoughts in my life that seem to dictate my life. Some things seem like they are not really a big deal, but when we really examine them, we see that they are not good for us. Do you have any cravings that take your focus away from God? You have thoughts that take up all your focus and that you are thinking about all the time. If you have ever had an addiction, you know exactly what I am talking about. I am lucky in that the addictions I have had have not been life-threatening, like drugs or alcohol. I am lucky that my addictions have not affected my life in ways like losing my family or losing my job. However, that doesn’t mean they were damaging.
When I was addicted to TV, while I still am, but now I manage my addiction, I would watch TV all day long. I would not get anything done while the kids were at school, and I wouldn’t do anything after they went to bed, either. I would watch hours of TV a day. I can only imagine how different my life would be if I had spent that time growing closer to the Lord, growing my spiritual life, reading books to further my knowledge, or really anything else that would have been productive. The enemy kept me sitting there watching TV because he knew what would have happened if I had spent that time with the Lord. He knew how different my life would be if I weren’t addicted to TV.
Now, let's look at the last part of this verse because I don’t want to leave you today thinking about all you may be doing wrong or all you could have done differently. This is not the point of today’s episode. The point of this episode is to let you know that even though we have all sinned. Even though we don’t live perfect lives, we are all saved by God’s grace. The ending of this verse says, “But God still loved us with such great love. He is so rich in compassion and mercy. Even when we were dead and doomed in our many sins, he united us into the very life of Christ and saved us by his wonderful grace!”
It is so important that we all know this. No matter what we are struggling with, God loves us with such great love. All those reasons the enemy is telling you that God can’t possibly love you are complete garbage. God still loves you with such a great love. There is nothing you can do to stop Him from loving you. There is no losing that love. I know I say that a lot, and I will keep saying it until every single one of you believes that God loves you just as you do, and there is nothing you can do to lose that love. It is your forever. Whether you want it or not, whether you deserve it or not. God is so rich in compassion and mercy. He knows why you did what you did, and his mercy covers it, covers you. His mercy is enough to cover anything you have done.
The last line is awesome, too. “Even when we were dead and doomed in our many sins, he united us into the very life of Christ and saved us by his wonderful grace!” This means that even though God knows all we have done. Even though we did some pretty terrible things, God united us with Christ and saved us by his grace. God’s grace is enough for you and all your sins. Jesus’s sacrifice was big enough to cover all your sins. God loves you with such a great love. He is full of compassion and mercy. That is what I want to leave you with today. God saved us by His wonderful grace!
Dear Heavenly Father, please bless each person listening to this episode today. Lord, we love you so much. We don’t want to be dead and doomed in our many sins. We want to be free of them. Please help us. We want to put you first and to show you our love by our actions. Please help us. We want to be able to live by the Spirit and not the flesh. Please help us. Help us to see where our sin is getting in the way of our relationship with you, and then give us the strength to change. We love you, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name. Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! May the grace and favor of our Lord Jesus Christ be upon you. Have a blessed day!
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in April 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “You say I have no more to give, I am tired, I don’t know what I can do. I say, "Stop worrying, you don’t have to do anything but trust in me, lean on me, realize it’s me in you that gives you strength, trust in me, I will give you what you need, trust. Move forward in my love.”