Identity 01: Freely Saved
Orientate
I (John) suffer with kidney stones. When a stone starts moving down my ureter, the pain is excruciating. I might be a wimp, but I find it unbearable. And there is nothing I can do about it. Nothing helps. I am powerless. Thank goodness I have found a urologist who can save me. He operates, smashes that stone and sets me free from the pain. There is a cost involved, but it’s worth every cent.
We all have had a problem much worse than kidney stones. By doing what we wanted and living for ourselves, we were alienated from God and this had dreadful consequences for us both in the present and forever. But we could do nothing about it. We desperately needed saving. We needed a rescuer, a Saviour. That’s where Jesus stepped in. But what does it cost us?
Explore: Ephesians 2:1-10
1-6 It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.
7-10 Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
Journal
What is God saying to me? Which verse is most significant?
What do I want to discuss/explore further?
What do I need to do?
What have I been saved from? Why did God save me?
Reflect
The grace of God is incredible, isn’t it? God loved you so profoundly that despite your deeply entrenched rebellion which was killing you and spoiling everything, he brought you to spiritual life through Jesus and gave you a significant place in his coming rule. He saved you. You became his child and heir. Wow! And you didn’t have to do anything good or right or godly. This new life in Jesus has come as a surprising and wonderful gift. All you needed was the faith to receive it when God freely offered it to you.
Of course, in a way it’s not completely free. Jesus had to pay a terrible price in taking your sin on himself. It just shows how much he loves you. But for you it’s completely free. That’s what grace is all about.
You will need to come back to God’s grace again and again. When you feel useless. When you feel discouraged. When you think you are achieving things yourself. When you feel the weight of responsibility. When you struggle with failure or pride. Remember God’s grace. He freely chose to save you in love. And nothing will change that. God has no second thoughts. He doesn't change his mind.
God’s unending grace in saving you is the most important thing you will ever learn about your relationship with God. It will probably take you a lifetime to really appreciate it but let God’s grace sink deeply into you today. A prominent Christian author, Max Lucado, says: “Grace is God's best idea. His decision to ravage a people by love, to rescue passionately, and to restore justly - what rivals it? Of all God’s wondrous works, grace, in my estimation, is the magnum opus.”
Pray
Lord I was trapped in my rebellion against you and just couldn’t break free. I was doomed and heading for hell. I wish I could have done something about my state, but I couldn’t. I was ensnared by my self-centredness and had no hope. Then you in your love reached out to me in grace and saved me. You gave me freedom from my brokenness and life forever with you - at no cost to me, but at incredible cost to your Son, Jesus. I have earned nothing and received everything. I am astounded. This seems too good to be true. But it is so so real. I pray that I will live in your incredible grace for the rest of my life – soaking in your love, relying on your strength and trusting in your future for me.
Respond
See how many times today you can quote this truth to yourself:
“I have been freely saved by Jesus and am now God’s child.”
