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.

Ephesians 2:1-4

As I read these verses, I was reminded of the very familiar hymn, Amazing Grace. As a former slave trader, John Newton knew from his personal experience the truth of the opening verse –

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.

Newton recognized what many of us fail to see. Every one of us was lost, blind, and dead in our sins until we experienced God’s grace in our lives. In our own way, “we all once live in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the man” just like everyone else.

The Good News is that those of us who have been found are now no longer blind, but we are alive in Christ and so we can sing the next verse –

’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.