I can still remember waking up on Easter Sunday morning the first or second year after God saved me. The bridge of this song kept going through my head:
Oh, praise the One who paid my debt
And raised this life up from the dead
Oh, praise the One who paid my debt
And raised this life up from the dead
Through my journey walking with Christ, I’ve been keenly aware of my state prior to God rescuing me.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
God’s word is truth (John 17:17), and what Ephesians 2 tells me about who I was before God raised me to life is so experientially true. I was spiritually dead. I was rebellious. I was living in the passions of my flesh, carrying out the desires of my fallen body and mind.
But God is so merciful, so rich in kindness and love, that he pulled me out of the pit of destruction and set my feet upon the Solid Rock, which is Christ (Psalm 40).
No longer child of wrath, my affections for Christ grew, and by God’s grace my devotion to him in all things continues to become more refined and pure. It’s not always perfect, that’s for sure; but my awareness and desire to know more of him and to live for him continues to swell and become an ever present reality in my life, guiding my thinking and doing. I’m so thankful for his mercy and guidance!
Together, let’s consider the truth that our praise, adoration and devotion is due to one and one alone: Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. If you’ve confessed him as Lord and believed in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you have been made alive to Christ. No longer a slave to sin, no longer alive to sin; but dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus!
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
Let’s give our talent, time and attention, our lives, to him as a living sacrifice, even as we prepare for gathering on Lord’s Day, or on this very Lord’s Day, whenever you are reading this.
Coram Deo,
Troy
