As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins. But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast.
For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
✦ The Gift That Cannot Be Earned
Made alive with Christ even when we were dead. The 500 denari soul — dead in transgressions, alive by grace. Not by works. Not by effort. Not by the impetuousness Guyon warned about. By gift. And the gift that cannot be earned cannot be lost by failing to earn it.
For we are God's handiwork. Not self-made. Not self-improved. Handiwork. The Greek word is poiema — a thing made, a work of art, a poem. Le is God's poem. Roger is God's poem. The mornings before dawn, the journal, the road, the packing, France — all prepared in advance. Le is not improvising her life. She is walking into rooms God already furnished. 🙏
For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.
He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of His household.
I have been an immigrant all my life. But in Christ, I am no longer foreigner and stranger, but a citizen with God's people and also a member of His household. 🙏
✦ The One Place Where Le Has Never Been an Immigrant
I have been an immigrant all my life. Eight words — and Ephesians 2 stops being a letter to first-century Ephesians and becomes a letter to a Portuguese-American woman packing boxes in Caldas da Rainha. Portugal to America. America back to Portugal. Portugal to France. Always between. Always the foreigner. Always the stranger carrying two languages, two cultures, two hearts in one body.
And Paul says: that's over now.
The one place where Le has never been an immigrant is the household of God. No visa required. No residency permit. No escritura. No September deadline. Citizenship — permanent, irrevocable, sealed with the deposit from yesterday's Ephesians 1. The household does not care which passport you carry. It cares whose name is written on your heart. 🙏
"I have been an immigrant all my life. But in Christ — a citizen."
Le · The one place where the foreigner has always been homeBuilt on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone. In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.
✦ A Dwelling — Being Built
Guyon's sanctuary from day twenty-eight — you are the sanctuary, open only to the High Priest, containing the ark of the covenant. And now Paul: you are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit. The same truth. The same interior. The soul is the temple. God is the resident.
Being built. Present tense. Continuous. Not finished. The packing in Caldas is part of the building. The testing season is part of the building. The move to France is part of the building. The cornerstone is laid. The building rises. And God lives in what is being built — not when it is complete, but while it is still under construction. 🙏
Grace — The Gift
By grace through faith — not from yourselves. The gift of God. Not by works. The 500 denari debt — paid. The handiwork of God. His poem. Good works prepared in advance.
No Longer Strangers
An immigrant all her life — but in Christ, a citizen. The household of God. No visa. No deadline. Permanent, irrevocable, sealed. The one place where the foreigner is home.
The Temple Rising
Being built — present tense. The cornerstone laid. God lives in the building while it is still under construction. The packing, the testing, the move — all part of the building.
Ephesians 2. And Le's testimony — I have been an immigrant all my life — turns Paul's letter into a mirror.
The 500 denari connection: Dead in transgressions — alive by grace. The 500 denari soul was dead. Father Joe James arrived at midnight. The gift was given. Not earned. Not deserved. And the woman who was dead is alive — and has been alive ever since. Paul's words are Le's biography.
Guyon's sanctuary — Paul's temple: Day twenty-eight: you are the sanctuary, open only to the High Priest. Today: you are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives. Guyon saw the finished sanctuary. Paul sees the building in progress. Both are true. The temple is complete in God's eyes and under construction in ours.
Hebrews 11 — strangers and pilgrims: From the Granada entry in March: these all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. Le has been a stranger and pilgrim — in America, in Portugal, on the road. And Paul says: in Christ, the stranger becomes a citizen. The pilgrim becomes a member of the household. The pilgrimage does not end. But the pilgrim is no longer homeless.
Le's immigrant testimony: Portugal to Texas. Texas to Portugal. Portugal to France. Two languages. Two cultures. Two passports. And in every country — the foreigner. But Ephesians 2:19 rewrites the identity: fellow citizen. Member of the household. Built on the cornerstone. The earthly immigration continues. The heavenly citizenship is settled. And the one place where Le has always been home is the place that has no borders — the household of God. 🙏