Readings for today: Ephesians 1-4
I’ve enjoyed many privileges in my life. Many of them unearned. For example, I was born in America. A nation of freedoms and democracy. I was born into a relatively stable family with both biological parents at home. I was born middle-class which afforded me many opportunities. I am white and male which means I have never faced obstacles due to my ethnicity or gender. My extended family was relationally connected which meant a lot of time spent around a lot of adults who believed the best of me and encouraged me and helped raised me. I was born with certain talents and abilities that I did not choose. My parents instilled a strong work ethic in me and gave me a rock solid moral foundation. I went to neighborhood schools with lots of resources and great teachers who invested and cared for their students. I had the opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities like music and sports and Boy Scouts that helped shaped me as a person. All of these things were given to me or provided for me. I did not choose them. I did not earn them. They were not a result of my own achievement or success. Perhaps that’s why Paul’s words in Ephesians 2:5 resonate so strongly with me. “You are saved by grace!” This is true for me on more levels that I can possibly comprehend.
Grace is a privilege as well. It is not something we earn. It is not something we achieve. It is not something we can buy no matter how much money we make or gain for ourselves no matter how hard we strive. It is a gift. Given to us by a God who is rich in mercy and love. Listen to how the Apostle Paul describes it in Ephesians 2. “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift, not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:4-10 CSB) Why would God do all this for us? The answer is clear. By saving us, we become trophies of grace on display for all eternity. This both accomplishes our greatest good - salvation - and God’s greatest glory. For we are His workmanship. We are His handiwork. We are His DIY projects. And God never leaves a project unfinished. Not in this world. Not in our lives.
God certainly didn’t have to show us grace. He could have walked away as soon as things went sideways in the Garden. But God loves what He has made. And God is merciful and compassionate. Instead of washing His hands of everything, He got them dirty. He went to work. He executed the plan He had set in eternity. Grace was always God’s will. Always God’s desire. It was not a secondary response to our sin. It was the primary mechanism by which He would create the world, relate to the world, and eventually, save the world. And it’s why grace is the greatest privilege can possibly enjoy in this life and the next.
Readings for tomorrow: Ephesians 5-6, Titus 1-3