Titus 3:3-6 (ESV)
[3] For we ourselves were once foolish,
disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our
days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. [4] But
when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, [5] he saved
us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own
mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, [6] whom
he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
The truth is, we forget. We forget who we were before Christ. We forget that
all those things in others that we are unwilling to forgive — that’s who we
were. We were “foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and
pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one
another.” Yes, that’s really who we were. We tend to think of ourselves in nice
terms. “I know I needed to Jesus to save me, but I was never like that!” You
were absolutely inclined toward every offense you experience by others. I was
absolutely inclined toward every offense. Part of resting in the grace of who
we are in Christ is remembering who we were before Christ. My own personal testimony
is not that God saved me out of drug or alcohol abuse, womanizing, and violence,
but that he saved me from it. The gospel is not about how God took good people
and made them better, but about how God took wicked people and made them holy
by his grace through faith in the death and resurrection of our Savior Jesus
Christ. May we never forget who we were or we will fail to appreciate who we,
as believers are in Christ.
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