“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ…” Ephesians 2:1-5
Our ladies bible study is going through Ephesians and the beginning of Ephesians 2 talks about how before we were Christians we were dead. Non Christians don’t know that basically they are the walking dead, driven by their own appetites and desires which is leading them deeper into destruction.
Have you ever watched a zombie movie, even an old black and white one? Even if you haven’t I think there is an image in your mind when I mention the word. There is even a TV series about zombies here in the US, called “the walking dead” and I thought what a brilliant description that is of non believers. I don’t know why but I was thinking this when we were walking Hamish, seeing the contrast between Hamish and the other dogs.
If somehow we could give people ‘spiritual’ glasses and they would see themselves as how God sees them, the walking dead. No one would envy them, want what they have, they would see how pathetic and lost they really were. Unlike zombie movies were the dead are lost and the living are scared of them, afraid of turning into one, here it is the exact opposite. There is hope for the walking dead - Jesus.
Even though we all were like zombies, grotesque, Jesus still loved us and died for us while we were like that! We as Christians - the living can bring this good news, so the dead can become alive in Christ. The most amazing two words in this passage - "but God." What a wonderful God we have!
Do you know anyone that likes zombie movies? Maybe this analogy can help you illustrate the gospel in a relatable way to them.
(Reading those verses 1-3, I can't help thinking that whoever came up with the concept of zombies must have been reading the same verses as well!)