But For God

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.  But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).
Ephesians 2: 1 - 5 NKJV

I found myself listening to a local radio pastor the other day, which is becoming increasingly rare for me.  However, something about his message got me thinking.  It was apparently a study of the begining of Ephesians 2, because he spent a good deal of time on it.  The fact that we were once children of wrath, dead in our sin nature which we inherited.  For if this were all there was to this story, we would be without any hope.  But for one thing.  But for God.  We who once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, but God.  We who once followed the very ways of this world, but God.  We who once walked according to the prince of the power of the air, but God.  BUT GOD, who is rich in mercy.  But God, because of His great love with which He loved us.  But God, who made us alive together in Christ Jesus.  We who were once dead, but for God.  A friend of mine asked me recently to focus more on our future in Christ than on our condition before His sacrafice.  This is true, but I feel that there are indeed many others out there who still feel they have no hope.  Indeed we have no hope, but for God.  For our future in Jesus is much more joyous than that which we once shared with those around us.  That was our past, and indeed we now live for our future.  A future without guilt or condemnation.  That was nailed to the cross with Jesus.  What remains, what our future holds for us, is living our lives as Christ Jesus {Galations 2:20}.

Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.  For he who has died has been freed from sin.  Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more.  Death no longer has dominion over Him.  For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.  Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6: 6 - 11 NKJV

This is the joy in which we now live.  The "Old man" has died and has passed away, what now is alive is our new creation in Christ Jesus.  Contrary to popular belief, we no longer need to come to our heavenly Father seeking forgiveness for our iniquities.  For this was accomplished by Jesus Himself on the cross at calvary.  I may be mistaken, but I have not found reference as to any sins which Jesus may have somehow forgotten to take upon Himself.  So, what we are left with can only be described as the greatest redemption stories of all time.  How we were condemned, guily, but for God.

~Scott~