March 24

remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. — Eph 2:12 BSB

The Apostle tells the Ephesians that in their natural state, before being quickened by God and made alive to Him, they were “without Christ.” This means they had no manifest union or communion with Him. Though they were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world and members of His mystical body, they had not yet been baptized into Christ by the Spirit, becoming living members of His Church (1 Cor. 12:13). They had not yet “put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27).

This was true of us as well. In our former days, we were “without Christ.” He had no place in our thoughts. We knew nothing of His person, His work, His blood, His righteousness, His beauty, or His grace. He was to us like a root out of dry ground, without form or majesty that we should desire Him. His name may have been on our lips, but His Spirit and grace were not in our hearts. If things are different now—if we have faith in Him, hope in Him, or love for Him—it is all by grace.

We must never forget what we were before we were called by grace. The memory of our sins and the path we walked should humble us and cause us to treasure all the more the riches of God’s sovereign grace, which reached down to us in our lost condition. Just as the Israelites were commanded to eat the Passover lamb with bitter herbs, so should the remembrance of our bondage to sin always accompany our enjoyment of the liberty of the gospel. Let godly sorrow for sin be our companion as we feast on Christ, the true Passover Lamb.