mostly dead is not all dead

While in high school, I had the pleasure of getting to know the Letchford family as one of their babysitters. About the time I left for college, the Letchford's left for Africa; they have been serving at the Kijabe Hospital for a number of years now and it has been a blessing to keep track of their ministry (& their kids, who are now so grown-up!) I definitely recommend checking out the excellent work taking place at Kijabe.

Their recent newsletter included a piece that beautifully articulates the Gospel - both my need of it and the power in God's grace. With Steve and Sherri's permission, I am including it here:

"Mostly Dead Is Not All Dead" - Billy Crystal in Princess Bride

Kijabe's Christian ICU nurses love their jobs, and get excited by the reality that "mostly dead is not all dead!" Their job is to move quickly to give their "mostly dead" patients a chance to live again. Last week, John was "mostly dead" - no blood pressure, no breathing, no response. His nurse moved quickly, however, called the rest of us to help, and this week John is smiling, eating and reading about God and his love. He even asked the chaplain to give him a new name, as he realizes he was almost dead and has been given his life back again. "Mostly dead" for John was not "all dead," thanks to the clear head and the quick hands of his Kijabe nurse.

God gives us the joy of seeing, even in Kijabe's very basic version of an Intensive Care Unit, some "mostly dead" people come back to life. Kijabe's nurses and doctors love seeing this happen. But Paul told the people of Ephesus that God himself specializes in bringing the "all dead" back to life again, not just reviving the "mostly dead." "(We) were dead, . . . " Paul says, but "God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ." I am a first born, good-looking, self-confident, very blessed and quite humble 40-something year old. I am prone, when I consider my spiritual state, to think of myself as "mostly dead" at worst, in need of God's help, but still able to help myself a little.

But Paul is clear. God doesn't operate in the spiritual ICU. He works in the spiritual mortuary. When the day comes that we realize our need for God, we don't need to be resuscitated. We need to be completely resurrected. We are not spiritually sick, not even spiritually "mostly dead." We are "all dead."

Fortunately for us, God's business is grace. Grace, Paul makes clear, is for the "all dead." "All dead" means you have nothing left. The "mostly dead" think they might still be able to do a little of their needed resuscitation themself. But the truth is sobering and at the same time reassuring. "Mostly dead" people have a chance in our little 5-bed ICU, but it is only God who can revive the man is spiritually "all dead."

"As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins . . . But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead . . . " Ephesians 2.1, 5

I am thankful today for a God whose grace pursues us - yes, to the spiritual mortuary! - and gives us full life where there was none.