What It Means to Be Lost

Just as there are two kinds of life—spiritual life and physical life—so there are two kinds of death—spiritual death and physical death. It's possible for a person to be physically alive—walking around town, doing business, having what some call a good time—and still be dead—that is, spiritually dead.

“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.”
—Ephesians 2:1, 2.

Satan leads a spiritually dead person down a descending spiral of sin and disobedience. But the wonderful truth of the gospel is that God loves such doomed people. He loves them while they are falling away from Him, dead in sins, and offers them a full and free deliverance from their predicament.

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, MADE US ALIVE WITH CHRIST EVEN WHEN WE WERE DEAD IN TRANSGRESSIONS . . . [to] show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”
—Ephesians 2:4, 5, 7-9.

God loved us when we had nothing lovable about us. His grace created in us a spiritual resurrection to a new life in Christ. We can't change ourselves, but God can. He gives us a second chance at life.