August 6 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

The term “zombie” has been made popular through movies and other events facetiously portraying dead people as up on their feet, but mindless. These “living dead” look the same as when they entered the grave.

In Ephesians 2 the apostle Paul portrays people without Christ as the living dead. He reminds the church that at one time we all were zombies—up and walking around but really rotten, decaying, and with the smell of death on our clothes. There is no reason to let our heads swell with a sense of self-importance; without Christ we are bloated because of the process of decay. Like the rest of humanity we mindlessly followed the devil, the prince of darkness.

Hallelujah! God did not leave us walking around as zombies! He raised us from the dead and made us alive in Christ. The Lord did not offer us rehabilitation or put us into a recovery program. He made us alive; He gave us the mind of Christ. This is truly amazing grace!

God, who is rich in mercy, raised up zombies! He made us alive in Christ. Notice how the apostle Paul uses the past tense. He speaks of things that have already happened in the life of God’s people. He made us alive and He raised us up. Being made alive is God’s sovereign activity. We have no power within us that will help us come to life. When we are brought from death to life, everything is changed and transformed. Our outlook on life is different!

Let us praise the Lord for the wonder of being raised to the newness of life. The transformation that has taken place reveals the riches of God’s grace and mercy. He did not choose us because we were loveable and desirable. Zombies never are! He made us alive in Christ to display His love. We were captive to the prince of the power of darkness and destined to spend eternity in hell, in the realm of the dead. But God made us alive in Christ. Never fail to praise Him and always remember what you were. Today you are not a zombie because you have been made alive in Christ. Since you have been raised to a new life, walk as children of light and have the mind to follow Christ.