Grace in the past-tense

There are some things I’d prefer to not have in past-tense…

such as, “when I didn’t have gray hair and stretch marks.”

But in Jesus Christ, past-tense is a profound treasure. Past-tense is our hope.

And you weredead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, followingthe prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work inthe sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the bodyand the mind, andwere by naturechildren of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

ButGod, beingrich in mercy,because of the great love with which he loved us,evenwhen we were dead in our trespasses,made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved…

Ephesians 2:1-5 (ESV)

On our own, we were absolutely without hope.

We were dead in our sin – because of that fateful day in the Garden, we were born dead in our sins. And we chose to continue walking in our sin, day by day living in blind rebellion against God. We aligned ourselves with His enemy, we lived to gratify our desires. We were children of wrath, deserving His judgment and facing God’s certain wrath against each and every one of our many sins.

But God.

But God chose to extend His mercy to us. We could not earn it – He offered it to us when we were dead and rebellious.

But God loved us with a great and inexplicable love. We could not earn it – He lavished it upon us when we were far from loving Him.

But God took us out of our chosen darkness and brought us into His glorious light. We could not earn it – we were actively following the evil one.

But God took us when we were dead and brought us to life. We could not earn it – we were spiritually dead and could do nothing good in and of ourselves.

But God turned us from children of wrath to His own chosen heirs. We could not earn it – He simply chose to us as His own.

When we accept what is offered to us in Christ, our dark, ugly, painful, rebellious past is… past-tense.

This is grace, dear friends. We bring nothing to the table. Nothing that would make us acceptable, lovable, worthy of His affection. He chose to lavish us with His mercy and grace and love – and puts our past in the past-tense.

Praise Him for turning your life upside down! [If you’re reading via email or a reader and the video below does not appear, please click through! It’s two minutes well spent!]