Ephesians 2:3 NKJV

among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

Ephesians 2:3 NKJV

Paul highlighted what we have become in Christ by the grace of God. We who believe, confess that Jesus Christ is Lord have been born again into His image and likeness.

We were all once born in the sin nature, under the influence of satan and trapped in his system now have been made free by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Therefore we need to be gracious and extend mercy to all and not judgment. To continue to show them the path as they give themselves to learning and believing.

All humanity without Christ lives under the system of the world and are in bondage. No matter how good they are, at the end it produces death.

When we understand that people are under the influence of satan and manifesting evil fruits, it is easier for us to be gracious, to shine the light and love of Christ so that all can have the opportunity to be saved.

When we know that we have this life in Christ by grace, when we acknowledge that it is not by our good deeds that earn the righteousness of God nor our sacrifices.

As a minister of God's love and grace, we can minister to people from all walks of life. It also helps us to be more compassionate towards the lost, the broken, and the needy because we were once living in that same condition.

Jesus saw people going astray like a sheep without a shepherd. That's the way we all ought to see people who do not know what they were doing.

Stephen can forgive his killers before his last breath because he knew they have been led astray by the enemy, satan whose motive is to kill, steal and destroy.

We are to live by the grace of God so that our responses would by like Stephen who saw the people through the eyes of Jesus.

Through Christ we are compassionate, loving, giving, honouring, faithful, full of wisdom and understanding.

With the richness of Christ in us, we can see and love people as Christ did. We too can see past the surface and look into their hearts.

Let us continue to walk in the grace of God and extend that grace to all humanity.

Live in the blessings,

Ps Ambrose