FEBRUARY 11, 2015
Back
From The Dead
Even when we were
dead . . . [God] made us alive together with Christ. —Ephesians 2:5
Read: Ephesians 2:1-10
Can a man be
officially alive after being declared legally dead? That question became
international news when a man from Ohio showed up in good health after being
reported missing more than 25 years earlier. At the time of his disappearance
he had been unemployed, addicted, and hopelessly behind in child support
payments. So he decided to go into hiding. On his return, however, he
discovered how hard it is to come back from the dead. When the man went to
court to reverse the ruling that had declared him legally dead, the judge
turned down his request, citing a 3-year time limit for changing a death
ruling.
That unusual request
of a human court turns out to be a common experience for God. Paul’s letter to
the Ephesians tells us that though we were spiritually dead, God “made us alive
together with Christ” (Eph. 2:1,5). Yet declaring and making us spiritually
alive was a deeply painful matter for God. Our sin and its consequent spiritual
death required the suffering, death, and resurrection of God’s Son (vv.4-7).
It’s one thing to
show evidence of physical life. Our challenge is to show evidence of spiritual
life. Having been declared alive in Christ, we are called to live in gratitude
for the immeasurable mercy and life given to us.
Father in heaven, our hearts are full of gratitude for
the way You reached out to us when we were dead
in our sins. May we live joyfully and with unending
appreciation for what You did to give us life.
Jesus died that we might live.
INSIGHT:
Here Paul twice says “by grace you have been
saved” (vv.5,8). Salvation is God’s gift to us. While we are not saved by good
works, they are the result of God’s redemptive work in us (v.10; Col. 1:10;
Titus 2:14; 3:14).
Source:
Our Daily Bread 2012
