“You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else.” Ephesians 2:1-3 NRSV
Are you dead to the world? Do you find yourself just going through the motions in life? Do you find yourself just following what others do? That is what struck me about the above passage of scripture, that Paul wrote in his letter to the Ephesians when he was talking about being “dead to the world.” If we are just doing whatever we do, but are not paying much attention to what and how we do the things that we do, and if we are doing them because they seem to be the “papular” thing to do at the time, then we are “dead to the world.”
I can relate very much to this because there have been times I did things but was not really doing them, I was just on auto pilot. Before I had put my focus on God and Jesus in my life, I was doing so a lot, just going through the motions, but not really living; I was “dead to the world.” This I think is very important, when we put our selfs first and not something greater then ourselves (the bigger picture/others), we are not really “alive.”
We are not “alive” because we focus on ourselves or the “flesh” as Paul says; we tend to never be satisfied with whatever we do and as such keep doing more and more things without thinking, but automatically. This is when we become “dead to the world” when we get so in the motions of what we do every day, in pursuit of only what is good for ourselves that we ignore everything else. Even if and when we may do something to help others, we aren’t doing so because of the goodness of the act, but because others are doing similar things and thus do so in return. We are “dead to the world” by being a follower of the world in all that we do.
Deal heavenly father, please help me to not be dead to the world but to take everything in and to be aware of you, and what you want me to do. To not focus on my wants but your wants and not to be a follower of the world but a follower of you, Amen.
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