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 with Christ—by grace you have been saved…
Ephesians 2:1-2
At the beginning of Ephesians 2, we are reminded of our sin problem. “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked…carrying out the desires of the body and mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” (v 1-3). We were dead in our sins. We had no hope for judgment day. Eternal death was our sentence before we were even born.
“But God.” This is the biggest, most glorious contrast in the Bible! Everything pivots from looking at our sin and hopeless state, to gazing upon the mercy of our God. We now have hope! Because God is merciful, because He loves us so much, He made us alive with Christ! He forgave us our sin, and Jesus took the punishment we deserved.
Not only are we spared the punishment we deserve for our trespasses and sins, we are seated with Christ! We are given an inheritance with Jesus, blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Ephesians 1)! We are given above and beyond what we deserve.
This is grace.
Studio Update:
So much happens in a month! The daffodils have come and gone, and so have the tulips, too. We had some really amazing tulips this year, and I wish now that I’d taken some pictures. The peonies are budding up, we’ve planted lots of veggies and flowers in the garden, and every week something new is blooming!
As for the art, I got out my colored pencils for some more butterflies. (Butterflies and colored pencils were just meant to be together). Between this project and the garden (among other things), I’ve been pretty busy, so I haven’t worked on a lot of other projects besides a handful of doodles.
Anyway, hope this encourages you, and thanks for stopping by!
Blair