By Grace God Made Us Alive When We Were Dead | Devotion

“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.”  —EPHESIANS 2:4-5

God places His own Spirit in us to be the means of governing how we live and behave. His presence in us works to produce His moral character so that we portray His love, compassion and goodness. But detached from God, left to ourselves, we actually have no choice but to be swept along with the ways of this world. This is inevitable, because having been designed to function in union with God, but separated from Him, leaves a vacuum that has to be filled. 

Our first need is not that we are spiritually dead in our transgressions and need forgiveness. Our first need is to be raised to spiritual life, and the means of raising us is Christ. 1 John 5:12, says, “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” The means of imparting spiritual life is imparting Christ. If we think behaviour modifications along with good works and deeds will make us Christians or better people, we have not understood that the root cause of our sin is that in being spiritually dead, we do not have the capacity to live the way God intended. 

Having been raised with Christ, we become new creatures indwelt by His Spirit. Our lives are then redirected to fulfill His purpose. Paul says, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). Our works are evidence of what is going on inside us, and good works are the evidence of spiritual life. As Christians, we have been raised, redirected and we have also been rescued. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). In Christ, we are saved through faith, and being saved is to be safe.

God raises, redirects and rescues us, but not just for this life. Paul writes, “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” That is beyond this life, this age and time we might see and experience the incomparable riches of God’s grace. Generations and millenniums will pass, but we will go on living in the love and kindness of God.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your love and grace that has raised me to spiritual life. May I live everyday reflecting your love and kindness to others.

How has Christ’s indwelling Spirit redirected my life?