By grace you have been saved, through faith. Ephesians 2:8
Collin and his wife, Jordan, wandered through the craft store, looking for a picture to hang in their home. Collin thought he’d found just the right piece and called Jordan over to see it. On the right side of the ceramic artwork was the word grace. But the left side held two long cracks. “Well, it’s broken!” Jordan said as she started looking for an unbroken one on the shelf. But then Collin said, “No. That’s the point. We’re broken and then grace comes in—period.” They decided to purchase the one with the cracks. When they got to the checkout, the clerk exclaimed, “Oh, no, it’s broken!” “Yes, so are we,” Jordan whispered.
What does it mean to be a “broken” person? Someone defined it this way: A growing awareness that no matter how hard we try, our ability to make life work gets worse instead of better. It’s a recognition of our need for God and His intervention in our lives.
The apostle Paul talked about our brokenness in terms of being “dead in [our] transgressions and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). The answer to our need to be forgiven and changed comes in verses 4 and 5: “Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive . . . . [It] is by grace [we] have been saved.”
God is willing to heal our brokenness with His grace when we admit, “I’m broken.”
Read: Ephesians 2:1-10 (NIV)
Made Alive in Christ
2 1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,g
2 in which you used to liveh when you followed the ways of this worldi and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air,j
the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.k
3 All of us also lived among them at one time,l gratifying the cravings of our flesha m
and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
4 But because of his great love for us,n God, who is rich in mercy,
5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressionso—it is by grace you have been saved.p
6 And God raised us up with Christq and seated us with himr in the heavenly realmss in Christ Jesus,
7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace,t expressed in his kindnessu to us in Christ Jesus.
8 For it is by gracev you have been saved,w through faithx—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
9 not by works,y so that no one can boast.z
10 For we are God’s handiwork,a createdb in Christ Jesus to do good works,c which God prepared in advance for us to do.
INSIGHT
- What brought you to your need to ask God to heal your brokenness?
- How do you need Him today?
Paul’s letter to the Ephesians offers an inexpressibly wonderful end-time vision that’s easy to miss, even though he repeatedly mentions it. While emphasizing the good things God has already done (2:1–6), he alludes to a far greater expression of grace that’s to be revealed “in the coming ages” (v. 7). This all-encompassing goal of history is “to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ” (1:10; see 20–22). It’s a reassuring and wonderful hope that Paul also refers to in other letters (Philippians 2:10–11; Colossians 1:20) and that the apostle John foresees in his revelation (Revelation 5:13–14).
PRAYER
God, thank You for being rich in mercy toward me! May I boast in You and Your gift of salvation through grace by faith. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen!!
Read: Ephesians 2:1-10 (NIV) | Bible in a Year: Ezekiel 8-10; Hebrews 13
