"Even when we were dead
by our own shortcomings and trespasses,
He made us alive
in fellowship and union with Christ;
He gave us the very life
of Christ Himself,
the same new life
with which He quickened Him,
for it is by grace,
His favor and mercy,
which you did not deserve,
that you are saved
delivered from judgment,
and made partakers of
Christ's salvation.
And He raised us up
together with Him
in the heavenly sphere
by virtue of our being
in Jesus Christ the Messiah.
He did this that He might
clearly demonstrate
through the ages to come
the immeasurable riches
of His free grace
His unmerited favor in
His kindness and goodness of heart
towards us in Christ.
For it is by free grace
God's unmerited favor
that you are saved
delivered from judgment
and made partakers of Christ's salvation.
And this salvation is not of your own doing,
it came not from your own striving
but is a gift of God.
Ephesians 2:5-8
As an avid gardener and lover of all growing things,
I have come to understand more about the nature of plants
and how they can relate to what the Lord told us in John 12:24:
"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless the grain of wheat,
having fallen into the ground, should die, it abides alone;
but if it should die, it bears much fruit."
Jesus was talking about Himself in this parable, but,
He was also speaking a clear message to His listeners.
If we embrace life in this world apart from Him,
the wages due our unwashed fallen nature is death,
and separation from God for all eternity.
If through faith we accept the free gift of God's grace,
as provided through the death of His Son on the cross,
then we too have been crucified, buried, and
raised with Christ to new and eternal life,
and into right standing with God forever.
Recommended Reading: Romans Chapters 5-7.
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