“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 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.” (Ephesians 2:1–5 NIV)
The good news is that we are not just changed, but we are forever changed!... The transformation that God is capable of doing in your life and mine is radical and it is eternal. When we make our lives an altar and choose each day to surrender, we will forever be changed.
Paul is quite direct with his words in this letter. He tells the believers that they, like him, were deserving of wrath. That’s the nature of humanity. We were sinners and we are sinners. But God. That can stand as a powerful sentence on its own. But God did not leave us as sinners to receive the punishment we deserved. But God did not turn His back on us. But God who is rich in mercy, perhaps better translated as abounding in mercy, saved us. And this is a mercy that meets us again and again as we surrender through confession and obedience to God…
What does Paul say God does because of His mercy? He makes us alive with Christ. The beauty of being alive, just like God’s mercy, is that we can experience this daily. In another of Paul’s letters he calls it walking “in newness of life” (Romans 6:4 CEB). And all of this comes as the gift of grace we have received because Jesus surrendered His life on a cross for us. It is the only reason we can be forever changed… Rest in the “but God” that has changed us from being dead in our transgressions to alive with Christ.
-- Susan O. Kent in “Altar’d: The Transforming Power of Surrender”
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