But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Character Check How can 1 slow down to revel in what God has done for me?
In Business Terms while hiking alone out of the country, I crushed my left leg in a bad fall. I had to drag myself nearly three hours to get to a road, where miraculously I was found and taken to a hospital. Eventually I was flown back to the United States for surgery.
The most profound result of that accident was that I discovered God in my pain. There I was, stretched out in bed in excruciating pain, and praying didn’t make the pain go away. So I began to ask God how to find him in the midst of the pain and not only as the alleviator of pain. He answered that prayer. Some of the times of deepest pain and anguish were periods of closest fellowship with him.
For the first time in my life, I was taken off the fast track for a brief time. I discovered most of my security and identity was in what I accomplished for God—preaching sermons, writing books, leading a church, being part of a media ministry. All of this identified my worth.
What can you do when there’s nothing to do but wait for healing?
During that difficult convalescence, I discovered in a new way that God loves me not for what I do but simply because I belong to him.
—Lloyd John Ogilvie
Something to Think About We can’t save ourselves by pulling our bootstraps, even when our bootstraps are made of the finest religious leather. – Eugene Peterson
