All of us lived among them in the desires of our flesh, following the wishes of the flesh and the impulses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest.

Ephesians 2:3

Paul continues to describe our spiritual condition apart from Christ. He writes that all of us have lived according to the desires of our flesh. By flesh, Paul doesn’t mean our bodies, but rather this sin nature or inclination toward evil living in us. We have all disregarded God’s teachings because we wanted to do what felt good to us. We felt the impulse to lie, to cheat, to steal, to gossip, or to speak poorly about others and we gave into those impulses.

Think of how you would feel if you a good friend of yours was in need, and you gave her a lot of money or a job opportunity and then she never talked to you or never said thank you. Or what if she ignored you all the time and didn’t answer your texts or phone calls?

This is our reality. When we harm or injure others and ignore God, we offend him. And God would be perfectly justified in responding to us with wrath, with anger. That is what each of us deserves from God.

Repent today of any times you have offended God by ignoring him or doing simply what you wanted to do. Thank God that he treats you not based on what you have done but on what his Son has done for you on the cross.