Faith in Christ

Depending on the circumstances memories can be good or bad, painful or joyful. Many people have joyful memories of their childhood, but many others look at their childhood as a time they would rather forget. This is the case for many believers in Christ. We don’t necessarily want to remember the characteristics of our lifestyle before we came to Christ. We’d rather avoid thinking about the destructive patterns of behavior, the broken relationships, and the sheer hopelessness of where we once were. But the Bible, and Paul in particular, sees some value in remembering these things. In fact, Paul commands the believers in Ephesus to do just that in Ephesians 2:11. He says something similar to the saints in Corinth in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 when he lists off all the people who won’t inherit the kingdom of God and reminds them that “such were some of you.” What is the benefit of remembering our past that would motivate Paul to mention it in these two epistles among others? It’s in the contrast. Because some of the Corinthian believers were fornicators, thieves, covetous, drunkards, and swindlers, their current hope in the washing, sanctification, and justification in Christ was all the more glorious. Yes, they wouldn’t have entered God’s kingdom, but now they could because God had saved them. The same is true of the Ephesians. In spite of their being far off from God due to their ethnicity, they were now brought near by the blood of Christ. These things are true of all of us, so we have no need to think of the past with regret and remorse, but trusting Jesus, we can look back praising God at what He’s saved us from. “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am foremost of all” (1 Tim 1:15). Praise God for His grace toward sinners and for saving us all from self-destruction. – Pastor Rory 

Sunday at Liberty