"dead"...?

Today as I was tending our humongous 30 year old Christmas cactus I found some dead connections of leaves. They had fallen to the base of the plant. Collecting the dead "branches" <-- If you would call them that, I was about to throw them away. As the waste was about to meet its doom, my Mom said something that got me thinking. She said, "If you take those and put the ends in water, they will actually start growing new life again." There is so much truth in this, not just for the plant but in regards to salvation. We are the broken and "dead" branches, fallen because of our sin. But we are given new life because of God, and his decision not to throw us away but to put us in replenishing water.

"Scripture does not portray people as merely sick or even confined to intensive care. They are spiritually dead. They are religious and moral cadavers! Yes, people are very much alive physically and mentally and emotionally. But they are dead spiritually. This is not to say that faith and repentance are unnecessary. If a man is to be saved it will be through faith, or not at all. But because he is spiritually lifeless, he must first be made alive by the power of God’s grace before he is able to repent and believe." Sam Storms

We are only saved and made alive by his grace and mercy! Words cannot describe how thankful I am for that.

Ephesians 2:1-2 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.