Have you ever been so sick that you couldn’t cure yourself?
My mother has recently gone through a battle with breast cancer. I’m sure it
was horrifying news the first time mom heard of the prognosis, CANCER. Then the
second reality set in, “what can I do?” My mother is an interpreter for the
deaf and has sat through numerous meetings like this with doctors, so she
probably could have guessed what her options were. “Surgery, Lumpectomy,
Mastectomy, Chemo, Radiation…” As assured are those options, they still don’t
answer that nagging question. “What can I do?!”
Mom’s situation was one that she personally could not solve.
Even if mom were a surgeon, she could not perform the surgery on herself. The
only “thing” she could do, is to pick up the phone and call a surgeon, who
could do “everything.” Blind faith in a person
she had never met before. (She may have met the
surgeon due to interpreting) But the fact of the matter is, she did
not have a personal relationship with this surgeon. All mom knew is that the
surgeon was qualified and trust worthy.Paul in Ephesians says that, “ we were dead.” Sure we can
ask of “what can I do?” but that question can only be answered by faith in
someone else, just like mom’s cancer.
I love watching medical tv shows. House,
was my favorite. In all the episodes of medical tv shows that I have watched, I
never once saw a dead body grab the paddles and shock itself back to life. So
who can resurrect something that is dead? Only one person. . . Christ. We’ll
discuss the “Dead" and “resurrection” bit in the posts to come. But I want you
to read this passage and really let it sink into your thoughts. Re-read it a
few times if you can!
“you were dead in the trespasses and
sins in which you once walked, following
the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the
spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among
whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires
of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest
of mankind. But God,
being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when
we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you
have been saved— and
raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace
in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by
grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is
the gift of God, not a
result of works, so that no one may boast. For we
are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand, that we should walk in them.” – Ephesians 2: 1-10
