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. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 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—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might 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 is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:1-10
During 2026, Peachtree Church is inviting everyone into Cultivate, a churchwide discipleship plan centered on the fruit of the Spirit and the kind of life God longs to grow in us. Throughout the year, we’ll explore how love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control take shape in everyday life through the Spirit’s work. Cultivate brings together worship, Scripture, group guides, and meaningful practices designed to meet you where you are and support growth in ways that fit your season. These twice-weekly devotionals are one way to stay connected, offering reflection and grounding for daily life with God. Whether you engage in many ways or just one, you’re invited to be part of this shared journey of becoming more rooted in who God has created and called you to be.
Devotional
Because all three of our kids and their spouses live in New York City, Hal and I have been learning all about that enormous, amazing city and all its complications. In Atlanta, we walk some but drive a lot. In New York, we walk, take the subway, or use Uber, and we never drive. The subway is a profound mystery to me. I get that you must pick a side of the track to stand on, if you want to go Uptown or Downtown, to Coney Island or to Metrotech, but how do you find the right track in the first place? And when you are out on the street, how do you find the entrances to the subway at all, and how do you pick which one of them you should use to plunge down into the tracks? And when (if) you reach your destination with the grace of God, how do you exit so that you see things you recognize when you get up to street level? I have been reduced to pulling up a city map on my phone, recognizing that I should turn and walk until I see a river (hoping to God it’s the right river). I have been reduced to going into a coffee shop and calling one of the kids to say I am lost and could they come and get me at (and then I read them the name of the coffee shop off the napkin). One awful day, I got on the right train but pointed in the wrong direction. I knew things didn’t look or feel right, and the names of the upcoming stations were completely unrecognizable to me. I got off, walked around and below the tracks, came up on the right side, and then took the train in the right direction, with the cold sweat of Dumb Tourist on my brow. I know we don’t normally microchip anything but pets, but honestly, it might not be a bad idea for me in the big city.
Going the wrong way is something we’ve all experienced. But taking your whole life the wrong way, persisting in traveling in the wrong direction, farther and farther into sin, is far more serious. We can jeopardize not only the trajectory of our lives but the very souls within us, our health, our relationships, our connection to community and to God. All of it is at risk if we are, in Paul’s words, “dead in our transgressions and sins,” following the way of Satan and of the world Satan is polluting. If we are not dead to it, the voice of our conscience can tell us that what we are doing is not right, it is hurting us and those we love, it’s pulling us away from all that is good, and all that is God.
The recipients of this letter were mostly Christians who were formerly pagans. They did not have the benefit of a moral Jewish upbringing, but the writer also has something to say to Jewish Christians as well. He aims right to the heart of both groups, telling the formerly pagan Christians that they must not live in the impure way they formerly did, because they must live as those whom Christ has freed from that sinful way of living. And to the Jewish Christians, lest they preen themselves, he says, you have been saved not by your perfect deeds and your perfect upbringing, but by God’s grace alone. Both groups live in grace, doing good deeds out of love for Jesus, not to earn their salvation, but out of a grateful heart.
Most of his emphasis in this passage is on the former pagans, whom he sees as clearly going the wrong way by saying they are followers of Jesus, and yet living in the same old filthy way.
Neither they nor we will ever get to truly know Jesus until we live responding to his gift of grace-filled salvation. Then we will be on the right road.
For Reflection
How do you feel when you realize you’ve been going the wrong way, either while traveling or in your own life?
Fear, guilt and shame can be paralyzing when you realize that you should never have been living like that, but is that what Jesus wants you to feel?
Read the end of the passage above to see the joyful way Jesus lifts us up into our new life with him.
Prayer
Dear Lord, thank you for pinging my conscience when I am going the wrong way. Thank you for your gracious welcome of me, your wrong-way but beloved child. Thank you for not basing your grace on what I can do, but on all you have done for me! In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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Devotionals