February 23, 2010
“He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.” Ephesians 1:10 The Message
The Great Exchange .. #2
God is up to something in your life. You can’t see it .. but He is . He’s shaping your life so that everything that has gone into making you who you are will be made whole in Christ. Your whole life is being shaped to reflect the image of Jesus. That includes your past .. your personality .. your genetic makeup .. thousands of choices you’ve made .. thousands and thousands of moments that seem unrelated to anything. And yet … God began a work in your life that started with a longing for something .. forgiveness? .. wholeness? .. security? .. freedom? .. adventure ? .. identity?. And that path connected you to this One named Jesus. He may have been a church-Jesus. He may have been a religious-Jesus. He may have been a moral-rule-keeping-Jesus. But at some point He becomes Jesus .. the Son of God .. whose Love for you reaches so deep into your heart that you know that God has begun a new work in you. It is not something you could have ever started on your own. You know .. because you’ve tried time and time again to change .. to become someone else .. and you fail each time. But God began in the deepest parts of your life by simply offering you His life in exchange for your life. Yes .. there was a Cross. Yes .. it meant you had to believe .. to trust .. to accept something so incredibly free and life-changing. Yes .. God has promised to finish what He has started in you. Yes … you’ll mess up from time to time. But God has begun and is completing your life in Christ. He’s not in a hurry .. He’s working at a holy pace .. He’s making you whole in Christ .. And it only takes a moment …
“There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.” Phil. 1:6 The Message
Ken Chester: Grace-Gripped is sent M-F to Followers of Jesus and friends of Priority One (ken@priorityone.org)
