The Need for the Miracle of Spiritual Life

“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.” I said that “God made us alive” is virtually the same as the new birth. The reason Paul gives for why we need this miracle is that we were dead. “Even when we were dead in our trespasses, God made us alive.”
This is what we need—the miracle of spiritual life created in our hearts. And the reason we need it is that we are spiritually dead. We are unable to see or savor the beauty and worth of Christ for who he really is. Those who are not born again do not say with Paul, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil. 3:8). -John Piper, Finally Alive, p. 55.