Ephesians 2:1

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1 NKJV).

Death in scripture does not have the same concept as what we typically think of as death in our modern society.  We tend to envision a casket, a funeral, and being buried in the ground and that’s it.  Death connotes the end of life in most people’s minds.  Yet that is not what death means in a Biblical sense.  Death is not the end of anything; it is not a ceasing to exist, so to speak.  Death, when used in Scripture, signifies a separation – in a spiritual sense mankind died in the Garden of Eden when man’s soul and spirit separated from God.  In a physical sense, we die when our soul and spirit separate from our bodies. 

Therefore, when Paul says that we were “dead” in trespasses and sins, he is not inferring that we didn’t exist.  On the contrary, we were very active in our sinful state of being.  Yet, we were separated from God, who is Life.  Paul is explaining that God made us “alive” not in the sense of existing, but in the sense of being reconnected to Him through the finished work of Christ on the cross.  That’s why Paul tells the church in Rome:

 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life (Romans 5:10 NKJV).

Our reconciliation was through Christ’s death, but our salvation is through the life we have in Christ.  Put another way:

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:20 NKJV).

Since I have been made alive in Christ – I have been reconnected to the very source of Life, which is God – I have the ability to walk in the newness of that life, simply by choosing to.  It is not something that I need to figure out, or conjure up, or pray for, or even fast to make happen.  It has already been done and is, therefore, at my disposal.  The only question is, will I walk in it?

Today I choose to walk in the truth of new life in Christ.  For me right now that means since home is Heaven, not earth, then all my expectations and desires need to be placed there, not here.

Be sure to check out Gennarino's devotion on this verse:  Ephesians 2:1.