Loved Even When I Ignored Him

Mark: Think about a friend who ignored your calls for years. You'd stop saving them a seat, right? So why would God still want someone like me?

Sarah: I get why it feels that way, and I'm telling you because I love you. Here's Ephesians 2:4-5, from a letter traditionally attributed to Paul.

Scripture: But God, being rich in mercy, for his 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),

Mark: Okay, but dead? That's a heavy word. What's it getting at?

Sarah: Right before it, the letter says all of us once went along with the world and our own desires. Me too. I'm not pointing at you. And then comes the turn, at the words 'But God.'

Mark: Doesn't someone have to earn their way back, say sorry enough times first?

Sarah: A few lines later, the same letter says it plainly: saved by grace, through faith, not by works. I don't have every answer, but I know I could never earn it myself.

Mark: So the letter says it's grace, not our own works, that saves us. That's honestly a relief to hear.

Sarah: I love you, and I hope you know this grace. If it's been quiet between you and God, try a few honest words. The letter says salvation is by grace, and it is the gift of God.