Verse 3 "Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other..."
Do you remember what you were like before you knew God? Or even who you can be when not living in continued submission to His Spirit? The things in this list probably cover quite a few of the ugly things we were capable of (and still are, if living according to our earthly natures). Foolish; disobedient; misled; slaves to what we want; envious; hating each other. Tell me we don't see a lot of those things today, right? Dwelling on those thoughts can be more than a little disheartening. That's why I love how Paul starts the next verse:
"But--When God our Savior revealed His kindness and love..." (verse 4)
"Oh thank you, Lord, for those 'but God' verses in Your Word. Thank you that it doesn't end at our sin and what we deserve and how awful things would be without you! Thank you that your kindness and love steps in to change the story."
Verse 5: "He saved us, not because of the righteous thing we had done, but because of His mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit."
Oh Guys. Here's where the "waterworks" start for me. He saved us. And not because of us--not because of what we did, said, acted like, believed, tried to do, stopped doing, wanted to do. Not even our best actions or thoughts earned His saving love. He did it because of His mercy. That's it. Period. And what does "He saved us" mean? It means He took off every ugly, sinful thing we've done, said, acted like, believed, tried to do, or wanted to do. Everything, Guys. From the thing you are most ashamed of doing in your life, to the tiniest little struggle you still battle to this day. He took it off. He doesn't see it on you at all once you've accepted His salvation and grace. Instead, He sees the new person created through His Spirit living in you.
Verse 6 "He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior."
God doesn't just save us and then leave us to stumble along, striving to live life on our own. He gives us His Spirit--and not grudgingly or sparingly. He generously pours Him out upon us through Jesus. It's like God takes a gigantic bucket of His Spirit and dumps it all over us. We don't have to rely on ourselves--nor should we, since that's what got us into trouble in the first place. Who we are ourselves, our earthly nature, is everything that first verse listed off. Aren't you glad God gave us Someone who could enable us to live differently?
"Because of His grace, He made us right in His sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life." (verse 7)
And it doesn't stop with this life, either. We have confidence that we will inherit eternal life. Things don't end here on earth, Guys. In fact, this is a tiny blip in the grand scheme of things. We have all of eternity to look forward to. This means that earth is as bad as it gets for us, whereas it's as good as it gets for those who haven't accepted God's gift of salvation. It also means that even the fearsome monster of Death loses its teeth and claws a bit; as painful as it is to face the temporary separation of losing a loved one (a pain I know all-too-well), we know it isn't forever, and as believers we will be reunited with our brothers and sisters in Christ once again. We will never, ever have to be apart from our fellow believers forever; we will always be reunited again. There is not a forever goodbye to any of our brothers or sisters in Christ; just a "see you later."
I think my main takeaway from this passage today is just the simple reminder that I don't have to earn God's love. I know this is something that is covered pretty frequently--I personally have heard it quite a few times--but I still don't always live it out. I still have a tendency to believe I need to "be good" or I won't be acceptable to God, and the way I think and act often reflects that. My inner dialogue frequently includes worries about if I am measuring up: "Is this ok, God? Could I be doing better? Should I be feeling differently?" I even find that I start feeling anxious about things and people that bring me a lot of joy: "Is this becoming an idol, Lord? Is this relationship honoring?" It's great to be aware of our sinful tendencies and to try to live life well, but I don't think God ever intended us to become enslaved to worries about measuring up. Living in His grace means believing that I don't have to do anything at all to make God happy with me. Because I repented of my sins and accepted Christ's sacrifice, believing He took my place on that cross, God already sees me as perfect. I can't change that, regardless of if I have a good day or a bad day; rock this mama gig or fail and scream at my kids; show honor and respect to my husband or slip up and get snotty; choose to serve and love others or fall into the trap of being self-centered. God wants more for me than to live according to my sinful nature, and He gave me His Spirit to enable me to live well, but my failures don't change how He feels about me one bit. Oh, if I could just remember that and live in the freedom and knowledge of simply being loved by my Heavenly Father!
I've been a believer for almost my whole life, but I'm blown away by how God can make a familiar passage new and fresh, and how He can continually renew an appreciation and awe in what He has done for me. I hope each of you get a taste of that today, too, and live in the relief and confidence of being a new creation, saved by grace alone, free from the worry that you somehow have to earn God's love.
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