And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. — 1 Corinthians 6:11

After a long list of both shocking and common sins, Paul ends with this amazing message of grace. We all tend to spend a lot of time in the “I-used-to-be” zone. Some of us use our past successes as an excuse to live in the cocky afterglow of yesterday. Philippians 3:4b–9 was written by Paul for this group. Some of us carry around the scars and mistakes of our pasts like a bag of rocks for the rest of our lives. We pull those rotten pebbles out and look at them again, which makes us sad. We use them as proof that we can’t live our lives any longer. What a lovely wake-up call this paragraph is from Paul. There are no more bags or pebbles in Christ. We’re not dirty! We become holy. We have been cleared of any wrongdoing. How? Why? Who? The death and victory of Jesus and the Holy Spirit’s powerful work are the most important things in the world.

 

Thought

After a long list of both shocking and common sins, Paul ends with this amazing message of grace. We all tend to spend a lot of time in the “I-used-to-be” zone. Some of us use our past successes as an excuse to live in the cocky afterglow of yesterday. Philippians 3:4b–9 was written by Paul for this group. Some of us carry around the scars and mistakes of our pasts like a bag of rocks for the rest of our lives. We pull those rotten pebbles out and look at them again, which makes us sad. We use them as proof that we can’t live our lives any longer. What a lovely wake-up call this paragraph is from Paul. There are no more bags or pebbles in Christ. We’re not dirty! We become holy. We have been cleared of any wrongdoing. How? Why? Who? The death and victory of Jesus and the Holy Spirit’s powerful work are the most important things in the world.

 

Prayer

Father, I’m sorry that I keep thinking about the past and letting it ruin my present and my future. Please help me get out of my habit of living in the world of I used to be. Give me the faith to believe that you have redeemed my past and are doing something new and wonderful in me right now—something beautiful and gracious that brings you praise and redeems me. In Jesus’ precious name I pray. Amen. “