New Life Through JesusSample

This passage has been one of my favorites for a long time because it so dramatically helps us see how much Jesus does for us on the cross.

We were once dead to him because of our sin. And when you’re dead, you can’t do anything to try to make this relationship better again.

So it’s only by what Jesus has done on the cross, by taking our transgressions with him, can we be saved. We are alive because of this!!

We haven’t had to try harder, but we’re good with God because of Christ, and it’s COMPLETE.

I really love CS Lewis’s illustration in The Great Divorce, where people, as they die, are grey and translucent, but as they head towards Jesus, they become brighter and fuller, and become joyfully who they’re meant to be, not a shadow anymore.

We are in anxious times, and so this passage helps us to rest, to stop, and to see that we’re ok.

We get to see that this work has been done; we don’t have to keep trying. Christianity isn’t a "try hard" religion.

We are able to have real peace because of what Jesus has done. And that’s such good news. So let’s just sit and rest as we pray together.

Prayer

Dear God, thanks so much for the work of Jesus on the cross. We are alive and fully alive because of this. We’re fully who we’re meant to be, and we can stop striving; we can just sit and be ok with you because of what you’ve done on the cross. It is complete! We don’t have to keep doing more to be alive with you. Thank you so much Jesus!

Author: Julie-anne Laird

Author Bio: Julie-anne worked for 20 years with Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students (AFES), now working with City to City Australia (CTCA) as a Specialist consultant-Evangelism and Mission. She is Chair of Lausanne Australia and is the Canon for Church Planting for the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne.