Thoughts for the Day

You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived
among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through 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 ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God — not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

I constantly remember an Aunt who was a life-time Anglican, and who aged 90 complained that she was a bit fed up of different Vicars preaching about her sin! "I have never sinned," she would complain. She meant that she had never killed anyone, or stolen anything, or cheated anyone. This to her was sin. But Paul's word for 'sin' does not mean this. The Greek word means 'hitting the target' as in an arrow hitting an archery target. Before the Ephesians became Christians they had no gold standard as it were - nothing to measure themselves against - and they lived according to the way of the world, gratifying their senses and becoming more hardened to their way of life. They were slaves to the ruler of this world, to Satan. Put another way we might say that 'Sin is failure' - failure to be what humans should be and indeed could be.

We all know what it's like to become addicted to something, whether it's alcohol or chocolate or cigarettes. We know how hard it is to give it up, and how once we have broken our resist the temptation it becomes easier to break it the next time. But God has offered his children a different way. Because of His love for us He has offered us a new life through His Son Jesus Christ. When we feel that we have missed the target and failed by broking our promises to Him, he still accepts us back. God wants us as we are, dirt and all, and the door to Him is never closed. We should think of the story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15.11-24), where the father accepts his son back despite his actions, and restores him to the family. When we begin to believe in this tremendous free gift that God gives us and start to change our life, then slowly we shall become the people He would have us be, and we will find it easier to hit the target and not fail the next time!

Heavenly Father,
strengthen our faith to know
that it is not by our actions
that we are saved,
but by Your love
and our faith
that we are restored
May we learn to follow
the path You have set before us
and not to deviate from the way
that leads to eternal life.
Amen.