Lent
March 9, 2018

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 2:1-10

But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, 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 immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For w.e are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. –Ephesians 2:4-10

For some reason, I feel an obligation to write something about this scripture, but to be truthful you can just stop reading here and read it repeatedly inhaling it into every corner of your soul. God’s love is a gift we cannot earn, and we were created to do good works.

A friend lived in Austria for a few months on a learning fellowship several years ago. He became acquainted with a young man whose purpose on earth was to keep the telephone booths clean, which he did religiously. My friend could not understand how anyone could waste their lives doing such trivial work. I read in the paper recently that our telephones are one the biggest transmitters of the flu virus. I thought of that young man and wondered if he even ever thought that he was saving lives doing his mundane job.

Most of the good works we do may seem trivial, but they are important. Treating all people with dignity and respect can mean so much. They send the message that a person is a person of worth, holding a door, picking up a dropped item, offering one’s seat on a transit vehicle. If doing the small things well is ingrained into our souls, we are well prepared to do the greater things when necessary.

…whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward. Matthew 10:42

Prayer: Lord, groom our actions to do the small works well so that we will succeed when called to do even greater things. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.