Christ Church Daily Devotion April 22 2024

In this Daily Devotion, the passage from Ephesians talks about how we were once dead in our sins, but God's love and mercy made us alive in Christ. Our salvation is a gift from God, received through faith. The speaker shares a personal story about a Bible study and emphasizes that salvation is a free and undeserved gift. The devotional concludes with a prayer of gratitude for God's love and a request to guide others to receive this gift. Welcome to Christ Church's Daily Devotion for April 22nd, 2024. Today we will be reading from Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 through 8. As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of the world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All 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. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions. It is by grace you have been saved. And God raised up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Jesus Christ in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves. It is the gift of God. This classic passage contains some of the most beautiful and powerful teachings on grace. God's love poured out on us and made complete at Easter. It tells that we are saved by grace through faith, and our salvation is a gift from God. Reverend Paul Smith had retired after 50 years as an elder in the United Methodist Church, and then he came to serve at Christ's United Methodist Church as our minister of evangelism. I vividly recall being in a Bible study he was teaching on this passage one night. To illustrate the passage, he held up his Bible and said, Let's say the Bible is God's love that God wants to give us, or someone. But it is not a gift until something happens. Paul walked over to me and held the Bible out to me. I smiled blankly at him. Paul thrust the Bible a bit more emphatically toward me, and I took it. Now it is a gift, Paul exclaimed. He went on to say that we are saved by God's love for us that is grace. Free, undeserved, and unmerited. A gift. We have a part to play. Through our faith, we simply accept the gift of God's love and are pardoned. Your personal worship option today is to pray with me. Gracious God, you love me, and you offered this gift of salvation to me. Thank you for that. Even with my incomplete faith, I accepted your gift of love and pardon. Now point me to others who need to know that this gift is being offered to them too. Amen.