Just Two Words
Quick – what are the best two words you can think of?
Free pupus.
Test negative.
North swell.
All good suggestions. Each belongs in the top ten, for sure. But let me try out two more words on you:
But God.
Wait — I know what you’re thinking. The second word is exactly what you’d expect a pastor to say, and that first word… well, what does the word “but” have to do with anything? It doesn’t even make sense.
Let me try to give those words some context. They come from one of the most mind-blowing paragraphs ever written, in the middle of the book of Ephesians. I spoke about this passage a few months ago, and it’s been lodged in my brain ever since:
We all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 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.
I told you the guy’s long-winded! (When Paul originally wrote it in Greek, the entire paragraph was a single sentence.) If you really want to get to the bottom of what he’s saying, you need to pick apart this epic sentence, piece-by-piece. Over the next few days, we’ll make our way through it. Stay tuned.