By Michael Youssef, Ph D.  June 19, 2020

It is a tragic and fatal error to believe: I have lived a good life; my good works will earn my way to heaven. Every human ever born is under the curse of Adam’s sin and is unworthy of salvation. However, God’s merciful and loving grace triumphed over judgment and offered a way of salvation.

Before God’s grace came into our lives, we were spiritual corpses. Because of our inherited sin, we are all born spiritually dead. Until God’s grace breathed His Spirit into our spiritual lives, we could not even make a move toward God.

Ephesians 2:1-2 says: “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.” The apostle Paul is saying that before grace came into our lives, we were dead men walking.

We weren’t only dead men walking; we were also enslaved to sin. We had no power to overcome. We had no room for God. Verse 3 says: “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.”

In our past, we were subject to the wrath of God. But, if you have received the grace of God—the gift of eternal life—you are no longer under wrath, and you will never be under wrath again.

Prayer: God, thank You that I am no longer spiritually dead and under Your wrath. Thank You for Your grace that has changed my eternal future. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

“Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!” (Romans 5:9).