Craig T. Owens

Remembering our past is so important. Forgetting where we’ve come from can make us insensitive to the feelings of others, it can make us falsely proud of what we assume we’ve accomplished for ourselves, and it can make us fearful that God cannot handle what’s coming next.

So God want us to remember two things: what we were, and what we are. In Ephesians the verb tense Paul uses literally says, “Keep on calling this to mind; keep on keeping it fresh in your thoughts” (Ephesians 2:11 & 12).

Keep on remembering what you WERE:

• separate from Christ
• excluded from citizenship
• foreigners to the covenants of the promise
• without hope
• without God in the world (v. 12)

And then come two amazing words―BUT NOW (v. 13) keep on remember what you ARE:

• brought near through the blood of Christ (v. 13)
• able to access to the Father (v. 18)
• no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people (v. 19)
• members of God’s household (v. 19)
• a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit (v. 22)

Constantly calling this to mind should produce three attitudes―

1. Thankful to God for His grace gifts to me.
2. Graceful to others who are separated from God now like I used to be.
3. Hopeful of the help Christ can bring through me to others.

We are continuing our study of the Book of Ephesians this coming Sunday. Please join us!