The other day, I had the privilege to interview Dr. Alveda King. Alveda King is the daughter of the late slain civil rights activist Rev. A.D. King, and the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. During her childhood she experienced the tragedies of her uncle being murdered, her father being murdered, and her grandmother being murdered. That's more tragedy than most people can fathom, yet Alveda speaks and carries herself with the grace and love of Jesus Christ.
Alveda certainly grew up hearing a lot about Jesus, but it wasn't until 1983 when she received His gift of salvation. Since that time, she has experienced a radical transformation of life, perspective, and purpose. As someone who is highly conscious of the new and abundant life she's been given by Jesus, she has chosen to dedicate her life toward creating a culture of life in this country.
It's amazing to see what the Lord has been doing in her life and how He has blessed her with the ability to see beyond the trials of life in this world. That's something Jesus wants to do for us as well. He wants to bless us with the gift of new life in Him. He wants to bless us with a brand new outlook that finds rest in the hope He offers. He wants to prevent our hearts from becoming bitter and calloused. But the gifts He offers aren't always accepted and opened.
Years ago, my wife and I gave a financial gift to a friend who got married. We couldn't attend the wedding in person, but we sent a card with a check inside. Our friend never deposited the check. We followed up with her a couple times, and she told us she intended to deposit it, but her good intentions never resulted in the money being deposited in her account.
Let's be more than just well-intentioned toward God. Let's aim to understand, value, and receive the gift of salvation Jesus is offering us. Open the gift. Let it be deposited into your account. And let the presence of His Spirit in your life transform everything about you.
I. Remember what you used to be
““And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” ”
I often joke with my wife that I'm glad she met me when she did because if she met me just a few years earlier, I doubt she would have said yes when I asked her out. My wife met me after I became serious about trusting and following Jesus. If our paths crossed at an earlier season of life, she would have met someone who was very much caught up in the things of this world, trying to satisfy his heart with things that did't have the capacity to do so.
Look at how this passage describes our spiritual condition before meeting Christ. We weren't just awkward or off base. We were spiritually dead and unable to do anything to correct that problem. In our trespasses, we had lost our way and were taking a journey that leads to destruction. In our sin, we were missing the mark or missing the point of life. We had no idea where true life could be found so we weren't even aiming for it.
Paul reminds us that we used to live according to the thought patterns of this world that are under the direct influence of Satan. The ironic thing about that is that we were completely unaware of that, just like most people today demonstrate. Most people have no idea that they're buying into ideologies that have hatred and opposition toward God at their root. But that's what's at the core of the dominant patterns of thinking in this world.
In fact, just last week, I read an article that summarized the teaching of a particular professor. According to him, this world would be much better off if a large segment of humanity killed themselves. Why would he say something like that? His comments demonstrate that he has no understanding of the fact that mankind has been created in the image of God. His manner of teaching elevates some people groups over others and fails to value to human life as the miracle that it is.
Every worldly philosophy that treats people like a problem to be eradicated instead of a precious creation in need of redemption, is not of God. Every worldly philosophy the promotes hatred for, or harm to the human body, is of Satan. Please regularly examine your philosophical and social beliefs to make certain you're not buying into something satanic.
Because that's precisely what we used to buy into. And because we believed these things, we devoted our lives toward gratifying the passions of our flesh. We were under the illusion that the void in our souls could be satisfied with the temptations this world dangled in front of us, but giving into those things only led us us to shame, needless regrets, and self-destruction.
And if God wanted to, He could have left us in that mess. But thankfully, in His great compassion, He has offered us the only way out.
II. Acknowledge where God has brought you
““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.” ”
Have you ever been stuck in a jam with absolutely no idea what to do? Have you ever been in a spot where you knew that without the help of someone else, you were without hope?
Just a few days ago, my friend Rich told me a story and I asked his permission to share it. His oldest daughter is attending college in Virginia which is about eight hours from their home. The other evening, she was driving her car on unfamiliar roads about thirty minutes from her university. Unfortunately, she got a flat tire and had to pull over. She didn't know what to do, so she called her father. As Rich sat there on the phone with her, trying to figure out how best to coach her and help from a distance, a truck pulled up to the car. It was a Michelin tire truck. Within minutes, they fixed her tire and wouldn't accept any money, all while Rich was still on the phone with her. He was amazed at how quickly the Lord provided the help she needed.
Consider the helpless condition we were in when God found us. He showed up when we were spiritually dead and weren't seeking Him. We were still convinced that we didn't need Him, and without even realizing it, we were living like His enemies. Yet God demonstrated His great mercy to us by opening our eyes to see our need for help. Then He graciously provided that help through His Son, Jesus Christ. As we receive Christ's help by faith, we are united to Christ and made alive in Him. And in addition to that, we're promised a glorious future instead of the condemnation we deserved.
It's amazing to me to consider God's willingness to do this for us, but that's exactly what He has done. And I don't ever want to forget where He has brought me. I don't ever want to make the mistake of believing that somehow I did this for myself. I don't ever want to become ungrateful to Him, nor do I want to forget the fact that He rescued me when I was stranded.
I say all that because I know we're forgetful people. We can get so used to God's blessings that we eventually begin to think we may not have needed His help in the first place. And when that happens, we might not value our relationship with Him like we should. To me, it's also an issue of loyalty. I need to remain loyal to the one who redeemed me and gave me life.
I was talking to a friend about the concept of loyalty just a few weeks ago. He runs a coaching business and had recently helped someone whose business had gone through a very rough patch and was near closing. Thankfully, her business was saved, but then she basically abandoned my friend and made him feel disposable. To me, that was an issue of loyalty, and it illustrated how easily we can make that mistake, relationally and spiritually.
We should acknowledge where God has brought us and what He rescued us from. Our loyalty to Him shouldn't waver once He places us on solid ground.
III. Give God the credit He's due
““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.” ”
You learn a lot about what people are placing their hope in when you officiate a funeral. At this point, I don't know how many I have spoken at, but it's a lot. After one of the more recent funerals, a man walked up to me and told me he was concerned about when the day came for his funeral because his former priest wasn't going to be able to officiate. When I asked him why that troubled him, he told me, "I was counting on that guy to get me into Heaven, but now he's dead and I didn't have a plan B."
It's interesting, and often very sad to hear what people are really trusting to save their souls. Some are trusting in their priest, their pastor, their church attendance, their donations, or most commonly, their good works. But the reality is, none of these options are sufficient to save a soul. Salvation is a gift of grace, not a reward for our efforts. In fact, Scripture is very clear that because of our sin, the only payment we earned in the spiritual realm was death. The only way we will experience salvation is by accepting it as a free gift that was paid for by Jesus.
““For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” ”
Paul reveals to us in Ephesians that we are saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. This isn't our own doing, and it isn't something we can boast about as if we've earned it. We can trust in the work Jesus did for us, but we can't trust in the work we've done for ourselves. If salvation was a reward for our effort, we'd be able to boast about having it. But because it's a gift that was paid for by Jesus, all we can ever do is boast in the work He did on our behalf. I can brag about the perfect life Jesus lived. I can brag about the death He died on the cross. I can brag about His resurrection, but I can't brag about myself because the only thing I contributed to my salvation was the sin that made it necessary.
And when that's straight in our minds, we can respond in a joyful and exciting way. The work we do now isn't to earn salvation, rather it's to express our thankfulness to God who saved us. When we serve one another, we can say "thank you" to Jesus who gave us the new desire to serve. When we give to one another, we can say "thank you" to Jesus who gave us the best gift in this age and in the age to come.
Because we've been given a new mind through Christ, we can realize that real life isn't about trying to gain glory for ourselves. Real life is about giving Him glory. He has prepared opportunities for us to serve so we can glorify His name, not covet His glory for ourselves.
Our new life in Christ isn't a reward for our service, it's a gift that was paid for with His service. So let's receive that gift humbly. Let's remember what God rescued us from. Let's give God the credit He's due, and let's trust Jesus completely with every ounce of our being.
© John Stange, 2021
