As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
Ephesians 2:1-3 NIV
Paul paints a pretty dismal picture of my life before Christ. I was, he says, dead in my transgressions and sins and was, by nature, deserving of God’s wrath. Not a very pretty picture.
It is not that my life before Christ had been bad, at least not by the standards of this world. I believed in God. I went to church with my family several times a week. And I read my Bible frequently. I didn’t drink, smoke, or do drugs. And I never got in trouble. I was a good kid.
But I did follow the ways of this world and, as I had the opportunity, gratified my natural cravings and desires. Even though I was a member of a local church and mostly did all the right things, I was still primarily guided by what I wanted to do.
I certainly believed in Satan. But I would have taken exception to the thought that I was serving him. But as long as I was living in conformity with the world’s ways and primarily doing what I wanted, he was the god I followed.
And, because Satan was my god, I was deserving of God’s wrath. No matter how good I thought I was. And no matter how much time I spent doing Christian stuff. I was separated from the life of God. I was dead in my sin and faced a dismal future.
But fortunately, that is not the end of the story. Because of God’s love, mercy, and grace, I have been made alive with Christ—by his grace, I have been saved (Eph. 2:4-5). And by his grace, he offers this gift of salvation (eternal life) to all who will receive it by faith (Eph. 2:8).
