I recently saw the movie I Am Legend starring Will Smith for the very first time, and it got me thinking (Yes, I know I am way behind the curve). The concept of zombies and vampires is something that has enthralled Hollywood and society, as a whole, for centuries. The idea that something that was once dead, but is now alive again fascinates us. However, these creatures are not “fully” alive. They lack true life and are characterized by a meaningless existence, void of any true fulfillment. However, as we read in chapter 2 of Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus, there is a creature that actually becomes truly fulfilled when it receives “new life” through the grace that can be found in Jesus alone.

¹As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ²in 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. ³All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature^[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. ⁴But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.⁶And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.