He Did It All!

[Alabaster]

He Did It All!

Ephesians 2:8-9 NLT
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.



Thank goodness for that! There is nothing I can do to win the favour of God. I can’t do a dance or sing a song or give a gift to win His love. The fact is He has loved me since before I even WAS me!

Here’s what Peterson says in The Message, a paraphrase of verses 7-10:

Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

How can I add to that? It is a blessed and comforting thing to know that God has me safely in hand and that He knew me before I came to be, and that He has a plan for me. My potter, shaping me, the clay, into a vessel to perform a function—to carry His light!

​

Amen, Lord Jesus! Shape me and mold me and make me what you want me to be. May my clay be malleable in your strong and loving hands. Caress me sweet Lord, but also prod me when I need to move!




NEW
10/30/07

 

[farouk]

I like the potter/clay analogy.

Romans 9 talks about it, too.

 

[Alabaster]

I like the potter/clay analogy.

Romans 9 talks about it, too.

I like it, too. We need to think of ourselves a bit more as soft clay. After all, we are literally clay, aren't we?

A potter considers hard, resistant clay as useless.



Romans 9:19-24 NLT
<sup class="versenum" id="en-NLT-28135">19</sup> Well then, you might say, “Why does God blame people for not responding? Haven’t they simply done what he makes them do?”
<sup class="versenum" id="en-NLT-28136">20</sup> No, don’t say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?” <sup class="versenum" id="en-NLT-28137">21</sup> When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into? <sup class="versenum" id="en-NLT-28138">22</sup> In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power, he is very patient with those on whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction. <sup class="versenum" id="en-NLT-28139">23</sup> He does this to make the riches of his glory shine even brighter on those to whom he shows mercy, who were prepared in advance for glory. <sup class="versenum" id="en-NLT-28140">24</sup> And we are among those whom he selected, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles.

 

[Nacho]

Amen

 

[Alabaster]

Amen

Thanks, Nacho! I appreciate a hearty amen.

 

[farouk]

Exactly.