Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Zombie No Longer

Tuesday, April 4, 2017
Hear my prayer, O Lord; listen to my plea!  Answer me because you are faithful and righteous.  Don’t put your servant on trial, for no one is innocent before you.  My enemy has chased me.  He has knocked me to the ground and forces me to live in darkness like those in the grave.  I am losing all hope; I am paralyzed with fear.  I remember the days of old.  I ponder all your great works and think about what you have done.  I lift my hands to you in prayer.  I thirst for you as parched land thirsts for rain.  Psalm 143:1-6(NLT)
Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins.  You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world.  He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.  All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature.  By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.  But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead.  (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)  For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. 
Ephesians 2:1-6(NLT)
Zombies; oh my!

A small town sheriff awakens from a coma in 2010 to find his world is full of “walkers” or zombies, the walking dead.  Seven seasons later The Walking Dead is the most popular show among 18-49 year olds[ii].

Now I missed that demographic by a full three decades, and so I’ve never even watched an episode.  But if you are a devoted fan of the show, please save the eye-roll, and don’t send me a letter imploring me to just watch…you’ll love it.  Frankly, I’m not into horror stuff; I can barely stand to watch Criminal Minds…but – truth be told – that one did catch my generation!
But I digress…back to zombies, the walking horror show.

Two of the major characters in Scripture, David and Paul, had something to say about zombies.  Actually David knew what it was like to be one; the young man anointed to be king in place of Israel’s first king, Saul, was hounded by his enemies and lived in the darkness like those in the graveDavid described his lifeless life as hopeless, paralyzed and parched!  He was a walking dead man.

The apostle Paul took it a step farther and declared all of us walk around like zombies, dead in our sins!

But Paul doesn’t leave us hollow-eyed, rotting and grotesquely menacing, consigned to an endless grave-existence.  He says that God was so rich in mercy, and loved us so much, that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross saved us from an eternal walking death.

When you trust in Christ you are zombie non grata; zombie no more – literally, the walking death is no longer welcome!

For You Today

Like most shows on TV or the big screen, it may be entertaining to take-in the drama and be glad you’re not the victim.  But in real life there’s no such balcony seat; we are all in the middle of that drama; we are all victims of our own choice to enter the walking death. 
And only Christ can save us from sin’s death!
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!
NOTES


 I Title image: By Arno roca' s eyes (francois sagat in BLAB LA ZOMBIE by ARNO ROCA), via Wikimedia Commons

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