© 2014 by Tom Boynton (editing by Kathy Boynton)

One day I stood by the casket of an elderly lady I had known as a young boy. Next to me stood her grieving husband yearning to hold her, once again, in his arms. As he stood there, trying to prevent tears from blurring his vision, he reached down, taking her hand in his, and said, “Let’s go home Mable.”

She didn’t move! Why? She had always responded to his love before. Here he was, calling her name and, once again, asking her to come with him. Yet she remained motionless. Why did she not exercise her free will to accept his loving invitation and follow him home?

Physical death is a picture of a deeper spiritual death. Scripture tells us that we were all born spiritually dead in sin. A spiritually dead person has no more “free will” to respond to a loving spiritual invitation than Mable had to respond to her husband’s physical invitation. Actually, a spiritually dead person’s will is not free at all, but is bound by sin and death. Jesus told the religious leaders, who hated him, that their wills were in bondage to the will of their father, the Devil (John 8:44).

How then can a spiritually dead person be freed from death? Scripture is clear that the will of a dead person has no power to bring this to pass. “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13). Only as God reaches into the heart of an unbeliever and implants life and faith there, can the spiritually dead person respond and follow Him. The physical resurrection of Lazarus by Jesus is a vivid illustration of this spiritual phenomenon.

Jesus Christ, God the Son, was born of a virgin to shed His blood as a substitute sin-bearer for His people. How does he instill faith in a dead person? He causes them to love His Word. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). If you are concerned about your soul, urgently read and search the Bible. It’s God’s pipeline of faith!

When did you last drink from it?

 

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