But God...

I don't know that I have ever heard the gospel more clearly than in those two words.  They're everything:  purpose, hope, love, life...everything. 

I was reading this morning in Ephesians 2.  I had just finished chapter 1, which is full of hope in Christ, the promise of inheritance, and the beauty of redemption.  And then, in the very next chapter, the light and glory were gone (or, they seemed to be).  The first three verses tell me exactly what I am, and the picture is not very pretty.  I am guilty of sin, following after my own desires and wants, disobedient...it even goes so far to say that I was "dead" in my ways, that I was worthy of the very wrath of God...

Not exactly a feel good message is it?  It's not the kind of thing I like to hear, or even more, the kind of think I like to admit.  But I cannot deny it.  Try as I might, there is not good naturally within me.  I would be lying if I tried to believe there was.  Paul says that by my very nature, I deserve God's wrath, His anger, and I have no hope against it on my own, no matter what I do. 

And then, I kept reading...

The very next two words are everything...they bring joy and triumph, grace and hope.  In the midst of my hopelessness, my sin, and the deadness of my life, comes intervention..."But GOD...".  All of a sudden, the depth and darkness of all I am is covered with the light of His glory.  Divine intervention.  What I could not do, my God, my Savior, who is "rich in mercy" and who has a "great love, with which He loved us," makes a way.  The verses go on to say that HE, "even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us ALIVE together with Christ..." 

All of a sudden, hopelessness becomes hope...death becomes life...and the love of my Savior transforms me, a sinner who had chosen my own way, into an image bearer of His glory, as One who has a purpose, to make Him known, to delight in Him.

May the eyes of our heart be enlightened to know the hope to which He has called us...

...grace and peace...