July 13 | Bible in a Year: Psalms 7-9; Acts 18

Rescue Plan

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves. Ephesians 2:8

READ Ephesians 2:1–10

When he lived on the island of Lindisfarne, David Adam would regularly see people being rescued from the causeway, a helicopter hovering over those who were stranded in the rising tide waters. As he observed, the rescuer wouldn’t lecture the foolish people for not checking the tide times but would secure a harness around them and lift them up to safety.

When I hear such stories, I might immediately think that I’d never make such a dangerous gaffe. Soon, however, I’m remembering some of my errors in judgement or the silly things I’ve done even recently. As I ponder my own need for God’s help and wisdom, I think of Paul’s passionate words to the Ephesians about God’s love and saving grace: “God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ . . . it is by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4–5). God gives us the faith to believe and to receive this grace: “. . . and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (v. 8).

God has saved us out of our “transgressions and sins” (v. 1) in order that we might receive “the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus” (v. 7). When we need help, whether from careless mistakes or wilful sins, we can experience God’s generous rescue plan. He doesn’t lecture us but gently lifts us to safety.

By Amy Boucher Pye

SCRIPTURE INSIGHT

Easily overlooked in this passage is the simple truth that we were spiritually “dead” before we put our faith in Jesus as God’s Son (Ephesians 2:1). Until God’s Holy Spirit drew us, we were naturally “gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts” (v. 3). Without a supernatural intervention, we were as helpless as a corpse. But “God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ” (vv. 4–5 ). Every aspect of this personal resurrection comes from God, including the “good works” we’re to accomplish, “which God prepared in advance for us to do” (v. 10). Truly we have nothing to boast about, except the great love of our great God expressed through His Son, Jesus.