Two mighty words!

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day that many Christians observe as Lent--a time to focus upon the Lord Jesus, remember the sufferings of our Saviour, and remember all that Christ has done for us. I am reading a chapter a day (roughly) over the course of Lent from the classic devotional book, The Incomparable Christ, by Oswald Sanders (and listening to Nancy Leigh DeMoss as she focuses on this book during Lent). I have already been so challenged by fixing my gaze on the Lord Jesus and contemplating who He is and what He has done for us. How convicted I am that I need to gaze at Christ and glance at all else. All too often, however, in the frenetic busyness of life, I gaze in rapt attention at all the world has to offer while giving a merely passing glance at my Saviour. I pray that this Lenten season will change all that for me--for good.

Just the other day, I was studying Ephesians 2, and the Lord pierced my heart anew with what He has done for the world on the cross. Paul emphasizes in the first 3 verses of chapter 2 how dead we all are before Christ saved us. "And 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..." v.1-2. We were children of wrath: doomed, desperate, depraved. We were prisoners of our sinful habits and desires, "having no hope and without God in the world." v.12

I don't know about you, but I tend to forget that! I tend to get so comfortable in the world that I forget I deserved nothing but everlasting punishment and hell. I forget that, like that death row prisoner, sitting alone--hopeless and helpless--with no real future, no real freedom and no joy or peace or security save the bars of my prison cell of pride and selfishness and envy and bitterness.

And then Ephesians 2:4 begins with 2 of the most beautiful words in the english language: "But God..." Isn't that just the Gospel in a nutshell? "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 in 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 it is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing: it is the gift of God." Eph.2:4-8

But God. Adam and Eve would have perished in their sin...but God. Noah would have drowned with the rest of the hopelessly corrupt world...but God. Abraham would have died without an heir, his wife old and barren...but God. Rahab would have died when the walls of Jericho came tumbling down...but God. Failure would have been failure after the defeat at Ai of Joshua and the Israelites...but God. O, we could go on and on. Peter would have been finished and rejected after he betrayed His Lord 3 times...but God. The Christian hating Saul would have continued in his blind and hateful opposition to the Saviour...but God. Jonah, Judah, David, Samson, John Mark, Thomas--the list goes on and on--would all joyfully proclaim...BUT GOD!! And I, wretched and lost and hopeless, would have never known the joy, the peace, the wonder, the security, the love, the grace, the infinite "spiritual blessings in the heavenly places" (Eph.1:3)...but God.

But God! But God! But God! Might it be our song throughout eternity: that our Saviour left the throne of heaven and while we were imprisoned in our sin and greed and selfishness and depravity, God broke through time and space and entered His planet to redeem His creation. To the parent worried sick over a prodigal child, never forget...but God. To those struggling with broken bodies or broken marriages or broken finances, remember...but God. To the hopeless and helpless and heartbroken, o please recall...but God.

There is no place He cannot go, no situation He cannot transform, no relationship He cannot restore, no sin He cannot redeem, no heart He cannot heal. But God--the Gospel in two beautiful words. Might we reflect upon our beautiful, immeasurable, incomparable Saviour this Lenten season and to Him be the glory forever.