4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), Ephesians 2:4-5 NKJV
Life with Christ
Nothing is better than to spend an eternity that begins here and now living with Christ. God must have loved us incredibly to make that happen.
There we were encroached in the filth of our sins and wallowing in our hopelessness, whether we understood that or not.
Yet, into the midst of our misery, came our God Who is so rich in mercy toward us. That richness of mercy is because of His great love.
You know we talk a lot about the love of God without much understanding of its magnitude. We hear sermons and read books about it, but do we really fathom a fraction of a love that let God’s Son die for us?
Imagine All that God Did for Us
Imagine a perfect God Who will not let sin of any kind into His Presence and rightly so. Yet also imagine that His loving us causes Him to send His Son to die for our sins. His Son’s death was to free us.
Our freedom gives us the choice to choose to go back to those sins or others like them or to be truly free. We can live for the rest of our earthly lives following and obeying His Son Jesus and God Himself. This is true freedom.
Made Alive
Such love means that though we were dead in our trespasses, we have been made alive with Christ. We now have the choice to live this moment on throughout eternity with God and His Son. We can also enjoy the infilling of His Holy Spirit in our lives, or not.
The Choice to Go to Heaven or Hell
The choice to not embrace God means that we choose to follow the devil and spend eternity in hell in torment. It is truly mindboggling to realize that there are many who do, in fact, turn from God and His great love. They choose instead to follow the devil to an eternity in hell.
Choosing Christ
Choosing Christ means that we have been made alive together with Christ.
When God raised His Son, death was overcome for Him and for those who choose Christ.
It is by God’s grace that we are saved and raised with Christ.
Think of that for a moment.
In fact, think of it daily for the rest of your life on earth.
We are saved and now living with the Son of God Almighty.
Living With Christ
We are living WITH Him.
God made us alive together with Christ. Things are new.
There is nothing like living with Christ.
It often feels as though we have stepped out of a mine deep in the darkest earth. It seems as though we now stand in the light of a brilliant day of sunlight. The difference is more striking than there are words to express, yet God gifts us with the wonder of it.
Choose to Be Made Alive
Read our verses again and realize anew that God sent Christ to make YOU alive.
It is for you Christ died.
You can be free or you can go right on not taking God’s gift given out of a most powerful love.
God’s love alone saves and raises you to live in Christ.
Choose God.
You will never regret it.