Transformed – teen devotion – October 3, 2021

[God] made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
Ephesians 2:5

Grace Alone

There was a man who was sick, very sick. He had a very rare disease. He spent years traveling to this hospital, and then that specialist, who would refer him to another place. He crossed the country and even oceans. Finally, he found a cure. And the good news compounded when he was given the cure … for free!

But imagine during his travels as his symptoms worsened—shortness of breath, wheelchair-bound, and close to death—he found the cure, but left it behind. Or, he decided it wasn’t what he was looking for, so he resumed his search. Does that make sense?!

In many places God describes us like that sick man. Actually, it’s even worse. Today’s passage portrays us as a spiritual corpse. We’re “dead.” On our own, there’s no hope, no direction, no life. And why were we pronounced dead? It’s the sickness of our own transgressions, every way we have crossed the line and gone against what God desires and designs for our lives. But the good news about those words is that they are past tense: “you were,” precisely because you are no longer.

God made us alive! There were no defibrillator pads to shock us alive. There was no medicine. Doctors don’t treat dead patients. Neither did God. Rather, he did something better. He made us alive in Christ. In the life of Jesus, God secured a perfect life for us. In the death of Jesus God paid for every transgression. And in the resurrection of Jesus God secured a life that will never end. This is the cure! It’s all made ours by God’s grace. You don’t just have some cure in hand. You are forever secure in Christ.

Prayer: Lord God, I was dead to you, but now I am alive in Christ. Lead me to live my life out of thanks for your grace in Jesus. Amen.

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