deadness and life

"God never expected one good thing out of you." - Bob Hughey

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins... But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, 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 ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as 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 so that we would walk in them.

Therefore remember that... you were at that time separate from Christ... having no hope and without God in the world.

But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ... So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. Ephesians 2

"... He made you alive. It wasn't that you got baptized. It wasn't that you went to church. It wasn't that you gave a lot of money to the poor. No, it was that He made you alive together with Christ. ... The Word of God tells you to look at Jesus and for you to keep your eyes on Him; you trust in Him, you cling to Him, you walk with Him. That is where life is. Don't ever turn inward. If you turn inward, you will get depressed. God says that you are holy and that you are blameless. Listen, God is not uptight with you today. He knows you and He knows what you've done; but remember, He never expected one good thing out of you anyway in your old, carnal, fleshly, unregenerate state. You see, the lie you have believed is that God expects good out of you, so He must be really disappointed in you. But God isn't disappointed with you, and if God isn't disappointed in you, why are you disappointed in you? That is good news. It was for freedom Christ died for you. Freedom from failure, freedom from fear, freedom from looking at yourself, freedom to look at Jesus and trust Jesus and believe in Jesus. ... If you want to know what wisdom is, look at Jesus. If you want to know what faith is, look at Jesus. If you want to know what love is, look at Jesus." - Bob Hughey

I had the privilege of meeting the Hugheys while I visited my friend Bethany. She and I sung Bob "Happy Birthday" with the aid of helium balloons. ;) The radiance of Jesus' love flowed from Bob and Peggy, and now I am reading their biography, which is more a biography of Christ's grace. :)