Evening

September 27

Ephesians 2:6-7,10 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.

¹⁰For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Those who place their faith in Christ Jesus identify themselves with Him in His death, burial, resurrection and ascension. We are in Him, so when He suffered on the cross, our sinful nature was there dying His death. When we were baptized, we related His burial to the burial of our old nature. When we came up from the water, we related His resurrection to our new life in Him. He ascended victoriously to sit at the right hand of God, and yet He is with us always. We are seated with Him, in Him, with all the rights and privileges His victorious life merited, yet we are here working out our salvation with fear and trembling.

Why would God choose to take such fallen, wicked creatures and redeem and transform them, giving them such privilege and honor? In the ages to come He will show the incomparable riches of His grace that expressed itself in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. In that day we will look at where we came from and clearly see our former depravity, and at the same time, see the finished work of Christ in us. We will be overwhelmed with a sense of the incomparable riches of His grace. We understand just a fraction of it now. Then it will cause us to fall on our knees in worship and praise.

It is all by grace. It has nothing to do with what we have done. There will be no boasting of any works when we are in heaven. We will be in awe of the poem He created with our rebellious lives. Every poem will be unique, and yet every one will cry, "Incomparable riches of His grace". Every good work He orchestrated, every good deed performed, will then be recognized as coordinated and empowered by God. Then we will finally realize the depth of Jesus saying, "Without Me, you can do nothing."

Consider: Are you relying on His power today?