⁸ God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. ⁹ Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. ¹⁰ For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Ephesians 2:8-10

Dear God, I have to say it feels good to just take Bible Gateway’s verse of the day and just start praying. I don’t have any Sunday school classes I’m preparing for. I don’t have any CMLS Bible studies I’m teaching. I’m not working through Psalm 119 anymore. This morning, I’m just here to take a piece of scripture and hang with it and with you.

I will say, however, that since I did the thing on the churches in Revelation 2 and 3 it made me think of this letter differently this morning. I am now reading it through the lens of what John wrote to them from you. They did lots of good things but they lost their first love. They didn’t love you enough and they didn’t love others. Now, this was probably written several years before John’s Revelation, but were the seeds there? Or was this the time when they still both had their first love and they were doing all the good things? Just interesting to consider when I read Paul’s words this morning.

As for this passage, the message to me this morning is, “Be careful not to take credit for anything.” And I think taking credit for things is how we lose our first love. How we lose our appreciation and love for you. I can keep doing the good works, but if I start taking credit for them myself then I can get to a point where I forget that you are the author. You are the provider. You are the one who blesses the fruit and multiplies it. I am a vessel. And I can try to be a motorboat that powers itself, but I will eventually run out of gas. The only renewable energy to move my vessel is if I ride your current or allow my sails to be pushed by your wind.

Father, I have a lot happening in my professional world right now, and I need your provision. I need to replace an employee. Please guide me to the person you have for our patients and for us as a staff and volunteers. That person is out there. Please bring them to us. I have other issues as work I need to address. Help me to do it well and lovingly. We need different types of resources. Please guide us into them. Help us, Father. Help me. And I pledge to you to stay before you in prayer and do my best to give you the glory for everything. Oh, how I love you, Father.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen