WARNING PREACHY…
Ephesians 2:4-10
But God, being rich in mercy, because of
the great love with which he loved us, even when we
were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you
have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated
us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so
that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in
kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you
have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift
of God, not a result of works, so that no one may
boast, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
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Please allow me to introduce you to my old
friend Jesus. Jesus… Not a biblical character, a doctrinal
concept, a theological thesis, an ideological bent, a political agenda, a
religious nicety, and not even a historical saint or document, just my friend Jesus.
Jesus and I have drifted apart over the
years. Not that we aren’t still good friends
but through the time I can see that I’ve gotten quite distracted. I used to spend a lot of time with Him,
seeking His active involvement in my daily life and doing the things that He
would help me to do. Together, we used
to talk all the time and He would be with me through my days.
Like one time, when I and a few friends
were taking a day trip to Chicago, and the van I was driving broke down on the
expressway. I told my friends to remain
with the van and pray while I walked to the next exit to call a tow-truck. I started walking and within a few minutes a
car pulled over in front of me and offered me a ride. The driver was an elderly woman and her passenger
was another elderly woman. I asked them
why they would picked up a single guy on the side of the highway when it isn’t safe
to do so, and they said that they could see that I was broken down and they had
a peace about it, so they did. Some
people might say that I got lucky but I’ve been to statistics class and I know
better. No, I know Jesus gave those
ladies peace so that they would stop for me; that’s just the kind of friend
Jesus is.
This is just one instance of many more
instances of Jesus being with me in my life, and I miss those days. Somewhere along the way I got busy and
sidetracked with other “pressing and important” matters. You know how life gets: marriage, kids,
friends, work, and church.
Anyway, I want to introduce you to my friend
Jesus, He is in the business of restoring relationships; specifically our relationships
with God.
A long time ago our great grandparents
(Adam and Eve) were estranged from God and He has been trying to get the family
back together ever since. The problem is
that humans are funny creatures; most of us have a problem with humbling
ourselves, so we just avoid Him. We don’t
like saying “sorry” for things we do wrong, let alone apologizing for something
our great-grandparents (whom we’ve never met) did a long time ago. So God solved the problem and He apologized
first. Because He loves you and me, He sent
Jesus to tell us that we can come home.
That He doesn’t want to be estranged from us any longer and eagerly
wants to be friends. Jesus has gone so
far as to fight the devil for us (the one who created the estrangement in the
first place) to bring us back to God. He
took quite a licking but in the end He bested that old devil.
I realize that as I am introducing
you to my old friend Jesus, I’ve missed Him.
I’m going to have to give Him a call and get reconnected with Him
again. Anyway, He’s really a great guy;
you should give him a ring, I know you will just love Him.
Remember,
His name is Jesus and I told him to expect your call.
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