Scripture
Vs 1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
VS 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world
Vs 3 … carrying out the desires of the body and the mind,
and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Vs 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Observation
In this chapter Paul lays out one if the clearest descriptions of the gospel … saved by grace through …
And he emphasizing the salvation is a gift of God, not our own doing of “works”.
Paul also emphasizes the distinct lives we live before the saving and after.
Interestingly, Paul uses the same word for both ways of living: “walk”.
“Sins … in which you once walked”
And then …
“Prepared good works … that we should walk in them.”
Application
So many times it’s easy for me to think of having to blaze a trail in life.
I need to make my own way … Figure it out for myself.
In fact, it’s often even thought of as a virtuous way to live.
Frank Sinatra famously said it long ago, …. “I did it MY WAY”!
But God has prepared a way!
He has prepared the works!
I simply just walk in the way he has already prepared!
I am going to be walking one way or the other.
Waking in sins of the world or walking in the prepared ways of God.
In other words I will be fulfilling one desire or the other:
“Desires of my body and mind” … or … works “God prepared beforehand”
What’s the pivot point between these two ways of living? My union with God through Christ!
This walking Paul speaks of reminds me of the simple description of Enoch in the OT:
“Enoch walked with God.”
And he is then referenced again in the NT as having the faith that pleases God in Hebrews:
“Enoch walked with God.”
Prayer
Thank you, God, for your Word
Thank you that your grace joins us
Help me walk in your works and ways
Help your desires become my desires
In Jesus name
Amen