Recall The Former Days
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Sometimes it’s necessary for us to recall where we’ve been in order to fully appreciate where we are. It may be helpful to remember what we were in order to appreciate what were in order to appreciate where we are now.
This principle may also apply with regard to our spiritual well being. It’s good to reflect on what we were or might have become without the Lord in our lives in order to more fully appreciate what we have the privilege of being in Him.
In the second chapter of Ephesians, Paul discusses at verses one through thirteen what men were before they came to be in Christ, then contrasts that with what Christ has made of them.
Interestingly, as the text reads on, he notes again that the Gentiles were at one time without God, Christ, or hope. However, they are now in Christ Jesus and made nigh by His blood.
Indeed, to be without the Lord is truly a spiritually hopeless condition. However, becoming a Christian is not a tangible thing, and hope isn’t something we can hold in our hand.
Things of such physically invisible worth may fail at times to hold their value by man’s conscious estimates. Therefore, it’s well to consider where we would be without the hope we have the privilege of enjoying in Christ Jesus.
At the eighth chapter of Romans, Paul noted at verse twenty-four that we are saved by hope. When one considers all he knows about how a man is saved and what effects it, it may seem curious to include hope in that list. Yet when one considers that hope is an expression of one’s faith, it’s worth becomes crystal clear; especially when Hebrews eleven notes at verse one that faith is the substance of things hoped for, and at verse six that we certainly cannot please God without faith.
To awaken the faith, rediscover redemption, and more fully appreciate the gift of Jesus, recall that to be without Him is to be without hope, and to be without hope is to be lost indeed.