Dead or Alive?

“In the past you were spiritually dead because of your sins and the things you did against God.”  (Ephesians 2: 1 NCV)

I’m baffled by how little people settle for in order to avoid a relationship with God.

I mean all of us want love, success, happiness.

And most of us probably on more than one occasion have gone about trying to get those things in less than stellar ways.

But I watch people, who have glimpsed a better life, yet still stubbornly cling to their futility.  Struggling to bless themselves through lying, cheating, sex, alcohol, drugs and whatever else.   And I think, “What a waste.  And all because they don’t want God to guide their lives.  Really, what have they got to lose?”

Yet, we see a contrast alluded to in this passage.  A change available to those who make a choice.  Those who come to the end of their rope and finally say, “Enough.  I will try it God’s way.  I will commit to living with him.  I want the new life he offers.”

Paul writes here a phrase so short we could miss it, yet everything hinges on it. “You were spiritually dead.”

Their lives had changed.  They had risen from the gutter.  They had escaped their prison.  They saw the sunshine of joy.  They breathed the fresh air of freedom.  They replaced their rotting grave clothes with a royal robe.

They set out on a new path.  A way filled with love, joy, and peace.  A life filled with purpose.  They no longer had to suffer at the mercy of destructive habits.  They had power to live the life Christ called them into.  Power to live in victory.  Power to live the amazing life.

And so can we.

What about you?