His Glorious Grace

This morning, I did my second lesson in Ephesians from Chuck Swindoll’s online course. He titles his study on Ephesians “Becoming a People of Grace.” He says living by grace means . . .
1) Accepting others (failures and all)
2) Forgiving
3) Refusing to live in bondage to guilt and shame.

He was teaching through Ephesians 1:1-14 and gave us a few things to think and reflect on. He had us . . .
1) List the verbs in verses 3-9.
Blessed, chosen, predestined, adopted, redeemed, forgiven, lavished, obtained (an inheritance), sealed (with the Holy Spirit), guarantee (our inheritance).

2) Write down who was responsible for the actions of these verbs. God.

3) What does that tell us about the nature of our salvation? It tells us that God is the initiator and the One doing all of the work to save us and to sanctify us.

He finished his lecture having us look at v.6, 12, and 14. Why does God save us and bless us?
v.6 “to the praise of his glorious grace”
v.12 “to the praise of his glory”
v.14 “to the praise of his glory”

This is why we are saved . . . to praise Him. We are chosen by Him. For that and no other reason should we surrender our pride and live the rest of our live as a praise offering for our redemption. We should spend our life singing of his glorious grace to Him, with gratitude, and to others, with compassion. Our job is to praise Him and show others His grace.

Let’s praise Him, His glorious grace, to the praise of His glory.