Sin can be difficult to define, but basically it is disobeying God. How often do we disobey God by either doing what he has told us not to do, or not doing what he has told us to do? According to Exodus 20, one of the Ten Commandments is do not murder. Most of us think we are good people - we haven't killed anyone, but in Matthew 5:21 Jesus said, If you are angry with your brother, you will be judged. And if you say bad things to your brother, you will be judged by the Jewish council. And if you call your brother a fool, then you will be in danger of the fire of hell.
We've all been guilty of being angry with someone before. The reality is, we've all sinned a lot more than we like to admit. The good news is that because of the blood of Jesus, because he died and rose again, we can be forgiven. His grace is great! Are there some sins that you need to confess to God? 1 John 1:9 says, if we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins. We can trust God. He does what is right. He will make us clean from all the wrongs we have done.
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The fact that God has chosen and adopted us brings glory to his Grace. Grace can also be translated as kindness. What Jesus did at the cross shines a bright light on the kindness of God. The author, Paul, was trying to get the reader excited about the grace of God and to praise him for his kindness.
When someone performs really well at a sporting event or concert, the audience gets excited and praises the performer. They cheer, wave their hands in the air, jump up and down, and dance etc. God's grace should encourage the same response from us. Praise God for his glorious grace! Jesus is God's son, but we are God's adopted children. That blows my mind. God loves us so much that he gave up his only son who he loves, so that we could be his children too. We don't deserve it. There's nothing we can do to earn it.
I think that it takes great love to adopt the child of a stranger and raise them as your own. As adopted children of God, we will inherit eternal life with God - that's an epic inheritance! Even if you don't have a great relationship with your biological parents, or you don't know them, the creator of the universe loves you so much that he wants to adopt you as his child. It blows my mind that God chose me before the earth was created. He knew humankind would sin, and that the only thing that could cancel out sin was the death and resurrection of Jesus. And yet, he still made us. And he still loves us. He wants everyone to love and follow him, but he knows that many won't. Those of us who follow him have been chosen to receive his forgiveness. When God looks at you, he doesn't see your sin - he sees the blood of Jesus. You don't have to do anything to be chosen, just say yes.
After opening the book of Ephesians with his trademark greeting, Paul instructs the church to praise God. Our purpose is to love God and love others. Praising God is part of loving him, just like praising my kids is part of loving them. According to the Easy English Bible Dictionary, praise is to say that somebody or something is good or great; to tell God how great and good he is. We can praise God when we are praying to him. And we can praise him when we sing to him.
The second part of verse three explains why we praise God - because he has given us every spiritual blessing. These spiritual blessings include eternal life in heaven, forgiveness of sins, a spiritual family, relationship with God, the Holy Spirit that lives in us... Can you think of some more? |
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