Amy Kelley, Director of Program Ministries, Gethsemane

Ephesians 2:4-10 (CEB)
4-5 However, God is rich in mercy. He brought us to life with Christ while we were dead as a result of those things that we did wrong. He did this because of the great love that he has for us. You are saved by God’s grace! 6 And God raised us up and seated us in the heavens with Christ Jesus. 7 God did this to show future generations the greatness of his grace by the goodness that God has shown us in Christ Jesus.8 You are saved by God’s grace because of your faith. This salvation is God’s gift. It’s not something you possessed. 9 It’s not something you did that you can be proud of. 10 Instead, we are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives.

Reflection:
When my kids were toddlers they did many things that made me laugh! One of them was what they would do after bath time. If you’re a parent, you’ll understand. After I would scrub off the dirt, finger paints and remnants of dinner off in their bubble baths, I would wrap them up in the towels and sing whatever the song of the day was. But inevitably, one of them would smile, drop the towel and run through the house giggling. The others would follow suit. Or should I say, “follow birthday suit.” They felt freed! Cleaned! Liberated! The memories of those days still make me laugh.

We’ve all had moments like that. Like when the doctor takes a cast off that’s been on for weeks. When you stand on the beach, close your eyes and feel the breeze. When your spouse forgives you for snapping at them. When you finally pay off that bill you’ve been working down for months or even years. It’s absolutely liberating!

Well, God’s mercy and love for us should feel that way, right? Right. Easier said than done sometimes. As humans, it’s natural to be weighed down by regrets of sin or have remnants of shoulda-woulda-coulda that need to be washed away. Hopefully, this will make it a little easier…God’s liberating grace is a gift. He already knows we’ve done things we’re not proud of. Yes, we should acknowledge our sins and ask for forgiveness. However, God’s grace is a gift in the form of Jesus Christ, who died for our sins. Verse 8 reminds us to keep our faith in Jesus. He, after all, showed us how to live a life of love, generosity and faith. It’s not as complicated as we can sometimes make it. It would make me happy in my heart if there was an entry in Webster’s Dictionary that looked like this:

Liberated /lib•uh•reyt•ed/–(Eph. 2:10) To be free because we are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives. 

Closing Prayer:
Forgiving God, thank you for liberating us every single day to do good things. It is as simple as that. You created us to do good things, to share love, to tell of Jesus Christ. How amazing it is to know that I am free. Free to run. Free to dance. Free to live for you. Amen!