The Power of God - Pt 3

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:15-23 ESV). Third, we must note that Jesus didn’t die so we wouldn’t have to change. Jesus died so we could change. Without his death, there is no justification before God. Without this justification, there is no Holy Spirit coming to heal our rebellious souls and make our small acts of worship worthy. There can be no sanctification without the death of Jesus. Without Jesus we’re trapped. We are slaves to our own sinful desires and couldn’t obey God even if we wanted to. And God had every right to leave us this way, but he didn’t. From the depths of his loving will, because of grace alone, he sent Jesus to take on our sin. This encounter with such unimaginable grace will change you. Will you still sin? Yes, until the day you die. But, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Christian will persevere. God will begin to grow your love for him and his people and begin to kill off your love for your sin and self. Salvation is both a radical directional change as well as a slow, steady march, which allows us to be more and more like Christ each day. Grace not only saves us, it trains us. It teaches us to take Jesus’ side against our sin rather than the other way around. It is this grace that brings you to repentance, not like a kid forced to eat his vegetables, but like a slave shedding his chains for the first time. I find it amusing, though thoroughly tragic, that far too many people simply don’t understand the truth of grace in our sanctification. We hear the message to just try harder, do better, or make a greater change. Any transformation that is not rooted in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit will only fail miserably. We simply can’t muster up the strength within ourselves to change; only God can change us. He has provided the instrument and path for that change through Christ. That is good news! That is something I can have hope in!