Listen

You are saved by God’s grace because of your faith. This salvation is God’s gift. It’s not something you possessed. It’s not something you did that you can be proud of. Instead, we are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives.

Ephesians 2:8-10

Think

We are created to return the love we are given. Consider how many therapists can point to a time when someone cared for their mental health as the inspiration for choosing their career. Think about how many doctors choose to study medicine because of their personal experiences with a doctor who cared for them. When something impacts us on the deepest levels of who we are, it transforms our way of being in the world.

It’s easy to read this passage and see doing good things as a way of paying God back for grace, but that misses the point. Does a plant moved into good soil bloom as payment to the gardener or to earn its keep? No. It blooms because it’s now free to do that which it was created to do. In grace, we are free to live into who we were always created to be. Grace frees us to be and to do what God has called us to do.

Colin Kroll

Question to Ponder:

What are the “flowers of grace” that are blooming in your life?

Pray

God who redeems me, remind me of who I am created to be. Give me the courage and wisdom to live fully into the beautiful life you have called me to live. May the way I live show people how loving you are.

Amen.

Go

I’m sure about this: the one who started a good work in you will stay with you to complete the job by the day of Christ Jesus.

Philippians 1:6