Daily Devotional

A Ministry of the Kerwin Baptist Church

June 07, 2019

by Pastor Hawtree

BIBLE READING: EPHESIANS 1

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:…….
6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. 7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

“THE RICHES OF HIS GRACE”
Several years ago an elderly couple was found dead in their apartment. Their autopsies revealed that they had both died of severe malnutrition. When authorities searched their home, they found several paper bags filled with cash; some $40,000.00 in all. How foolish is it to die of starvation when you have plenty of money to buy food?

In 1916 a woman named Hettie Green died. When she died, it was discovered that she had left an estate valued at 100 million dollars. That is an enormous amount of money today; it was an astronomical amount in those days. Hettie Green may have been wealthy, but she was known as America’s greatest miser. She would often eat cold oatmeal because it was too costly to heat the water to cook it. Once, when her son suffered a severe leg injury, she spent so much time looking for a free clinic that the leg had to be amputated. She even hastened her own death by allowing herself to get worked up into a fit of rage in an argument over skim milk, because it was cheaper than whole milk. Hettie Green was a woman who possessed great wealth, but she did not have the ability to tap into it.

The church at Ephesus had problems with legalism, false doctrine and foolish arguments among the members. So, here is a young church beset with problems. They are like the elderly couple I mentioned earlier. They are like Hettie Green. They are rich in the things of God, but they do not know it. This book came to them to let them know just what they had in Jesus; who they were in Jesus; and how to spend what they possessed in Jesus!

We have been blessed with the riches of His grace. We should not act and live like we are poor, homeless, outcast children of a hateful God. Unfortunately, that’s what people often think of us as Christians. We act discontent and miserable, and yet we tell people how wonderful God is. Let’s learn to access the “riches of his grace”.