Mirror Word

Picture where God found us. We were in a death trap of an inferior lifestyle, constantly living below the blueprint measure of our lives. (Sin is hamartia, which comes from ha + meros, meaning without form or without our allotted portion.)

We were all part of a common pattern, swept along under a powerful invisible influence, a spirit-energy that adopted us as sons to its dictate through unbelief.

Throughout that time everyone of us were warped and corrupted in our conduct snared in a jumble of forbidden lusts, driven by the desires of the senses, totally engaged in an expression of a life ruled by mind games; it was as if a twisted passion parented a universal breed of people.

None of this could distract from the extravagant love of God; he continued to love us with the exact same intensity.

This is how grace rescued us: sin left us dead towards God, like spiritual corpses; yet in that state of deadness and indifference, God co-quickened us together with Christ. Sin proved how dead we were (the law confirmed it!) Grace reveals how alive we now are (the gospel announces it!) Before anyone but God believed it, he made us alive together with him and raised us up together with him. (We had no contribution to our salvation! God’s master-plan unfolded in the mystery of the gospel declaring our joint inclusion in Christ’s death and resurrection; God found us in Christ before he lost us in Adam! [Eph 1:4] In the economy of God, when Jesus died we died. God saw us in Christ, in his death and resurrection before we saw ourselves there! He declared our co-resurrection with Christ 800 BC [Hos 6:2]!)

(As much as we were co-included in his death,) we are co-included in his resurrection. We are also elevated in his ascension to be equally present in the throne room of the heavenly realm where we are co-seated with him in his executive authority. We are fully represented in Christ Jesus. (Our joint position in Christ defines us; this can never again be a distant goal to reach through religious devotion or striving, but our immediate reference. Col 3:1-3)

(In a single triumphant act of righteousness God saved us from the “guttermost” to the uttermost. Here we are now, revealed in Christ in the highest possible position of bliss! If man’s sad history could not distract from the extravagant love of God,) imagine how God is now able for timeless perpetuity (the eternal future) to exhibit the trophy of the wealth of his grace demonstrated in his kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. Grace exhibits excessive evidence of the success of the cross.

Your salvation is not a reward for good behavior! It was a grace thing from start to finish; you had no hand in it. Even the gift to believe simply reflects his faith! (You did not invent faith; it was God’s faith to begin with! It is from faith to faith, [Rom 1:17] He is both the source and conclusion of faith. [Heb 12:2])

If this could be accomplished through any action of yours then there would be ground for boasting.

We are engineered by his design; he molded and manufactured us in Christ. We are his workmanship, his poetry. (God finds inspired expression of Christ in us. The Greek word for workmanship is poeima.) We are fully fit to do good, equipped to give attractive evidence of his likeness in us in everything we do. (God has done everything possible to find spontaneous and effortless expression of his character in us in our everyday lifestyle. The word, proetoimatso, translates a notion that God has prepared a highway for us to lead us out like kings, just like the Oriental custom, where people would go before a king to level the roads to make it possible for the king to journey with ease and comfort. [Isa 40:3-5])

Remember where you came from; (not only were you spiritually dead but) it wasn’t long ago when you were still classified as non-Jewish, judging on the surface you had nothing that linked you to them. They sneered at you because you didn’t share their distinguishing mark of circumcision, which was their claim to fame!

During that time you were distanced from the Messianic hope; you had nothing in common with Israel. You felt foreign to the covenants of prophetic promise, living a life with nothing to look forward to in a world where God seemed absent.

But now, wow! Everything has changed; you have discovered yourselves to be located in Christ. What once seemed so distant is now so near; his blood reveals your redeemed innocence and authentic genesis.

It is in him that we are one and at peace with everyone; he dissolved every definition of division.

In his incarnation, he rendered the entire Jewish system of ceremonial laws and regulations useless as a measure to justify human life and conduct. In that he died humanity’s death all grounds for tension and hostility were entirely removed. The peace he proclaims reveals one new human race, created and defined in Christ, instead of two groups of people separated by their ethnic identity and differences.

Both parties are fully represented and reconciled to God in one human body through the cross. He reinstated the former harmony; all opposing elements were thus utterly defeated.

On that basis he made his public appearance, proclaiming the good news of peace to universal mankind; both those who felt left out in the cold (as far as the promises and covenants were concerned), as well as to those who were near all along (because of their Jewish identity),

Because of Christ both Jew and Gentile now enjoy equal access to the Father in one Spirit.

The conclusion is clear, you are no longer frowned upon as a foreigner; you are where you belong and part of an intimate family where no-one is suspicious or inferior.

Your lives now give visible definition to the spiritual structure, having been built into it by God upon the foundation that the prophets and apostles proclaimed. The first evidence of this building was Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. (He is the first visible testimony to the restored image and likeness of God in human form.)

In him everyone of us are like living Lego blocks fitted together of the same fabric (conversation), giving ever increasing articulation to a global mobile sanctuary intertwined in the Lord. (The word, sunarmologeo, come from sun, meaning union, harmo meaning harmony, and logeo meaning conversation. The word, auxano, means expanding with growth. The word, naos, is translated as the most sacred dwelling space.)

In him you are co-constructed together as God’s permanent spiritual residence. You are God’s address!

by Mirror Bible – mobile app.