Zombies are all the rage right now (have been for a while). Scooby Doo is the gateway drug from zombie-lovers. Zombieland made the undead almost funny (poor Bill Murray), and Brad Pitt helped us fall in love with zombies on crack in World War Z. The Walking Dead phenomenon took normal, unassuming quiet people and turned them into full fledged fans of the rotting flesh-bag battle. Resident Evil gave the gamers a taste for the zombie scourging. And of course, for classic zombie-fans, there will always be those old-school blood-and-guts-everywhere films from the 70’s and 80’s.
I’m not a huge fan of zombies. I did read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Quickbooks (soon to be a movie in theaters). Working for a book store at the time, my coworker/bestie and I put together a book display for it that won us $500 for best display in North America. Confession #2: I also acted in a short zombie film in college. I played the role of a doting mother to my child-born-zombie.
OTHER THAN THAT, I’ve never had a thing for undead movies or ghoulish dress up. I have never particularly enjoyed the gore and guts of Halloween. (This blog post helped me see the potential in Halloween, making it almost my favorite holiday ever.) However, I think that zombies have a place in the Christian conversation.
So, if you think you know zombies, I dare you to read on…
Believe it or not, zombies are mentioned in the Bible. Ok, not actual dead corpses eating brains on the road to Damascus. But Paul talks about the “living dead” quite often.
Ephesians 2 says this about humanity:
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind…
Sound like a zombie apocalypse? That is God’s perspective of our lives when we are not in relationship with Him: dead dead dead.
Our sin separates us from a holy God.
…But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:1-10)
God’s great love pursued us in our grave-living. Jesus took the place of our death, our separation. He then rose again and had victory over our identity as dead people. When we accept Jesus death as the payment for our sins, we also come to life.
You can make that decision now: simply surrender to God.
We have a beautiful symbol of this “dead come to life” thing. When a Christ-follower is baptized, they go beneath the water to symbolize burial of the “old” dead person. When they come out of the water, the believer is showing that they are a alive in Christ! Of course, we do not believe that believers baptism “saves” us. It is simply a picture of salvation… dead come to life in Christ!
No longer a walking, talking, purposeless shell of a person… we can have LIFE and live it abundantly for eternity with Jesus. (John 10:10)
So who do you know that might need to hear about this life-gift from Jesus? Maybe you need to accept it for yourself and begin your journey as a Christ-follower. Perhaps you have someone else in mind that is searching for fulfillment in dead-ends, like a zombie hunting for brains. Send her this link, or post it on your social media site.
Great post as always Becky! I think right now God is working with me to remind me that I just can’t be in control of everything. Someone once told me “God isn’t favorable to the foolish who don’t plan, but at the same time, God has a plan of his own.” I’m dealing with that now as I try to figure out what my plans are after graduation, and there is so much uncertainty that I feel God telling me to stop trying to make plans. I’m extremely Type A, so I’m working on it… prayers for trust and grace would be super helpful.
Xo,
Taylor
I’ll be praying for guidance, discernment, patience, and most of all a deeply centered reliance to keep leaning into Jesus through it all.
Great thoughts! I just started reading Francis Chan’s book on marriage and he used the passage from Ezekiel 37 with the dry bones coming to life to talk about how different our lives and marriages should look. God did not want us to miss this great truth and He wants to bring the world to life through seeing the church, alive!