4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
The phrase we so often cannot wait to see: "But God..." When we're in a mess, God does something. He acts according to His character. He is merciful, loving, and gracious. He has our best interest in mind; He looks down and sees the state that we are in, so He does something we cannot do for ourselves. Here, He made us alive together with Christ. He brought us out of that spiritual death, and raised us up with Him. Again, Paul alludes to the power of the resurrection and the ascension of Christ. God has us headed in a direction, toward the future, when He will put on this living art show, when all will be able to see what He has done for us, to us, and through us, in Christ. Our part is to now walk by faith, following Christ, not that path we talked about yesterday of following sin, Satan, and selfishness. We need to live who we are: God's children, heirs of the kingdom, His workmanship and magnificent picturesque puzzle He is putting together to present in His palace.
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