Yesterday the sermon was from Eph. 2:11-17.  This portion of Scripture reminds us of the importance of remembering who we once were and what God has done for us in Christ Jesus.  In preparation for the message, I recalled this passage from C.J. Mahaney in the book Living the Cross-Centered Life:

I’ve lived in the same part of Maryland since I was a boy.  Hardly a month goes by that I’m not reminded of who I once was.  Before God saved me from His righteous wrath in 1972, I, too, was a blasphemer.  I lived for myself and my own pleasure.  I lived in rebellion against God and mocked those who followed Him.  I spent my high school and college years deeply immersed in the drug culture.  Sometimes, late at night, my friends and I would seek out quiet, isolated places where we could come down safely from drug highs.  On more than a few occasions it was a D.C monument.  Other times a peaceful street under thick, deep trees.  Or even the terminal of what was then a little used airport called Dulles, where the doors stayed open long after the day’s flights had ceased and we could move through the nearly deserted canyon of a building.  Someday soon I’ll be near one of those places again, and the memories will flood back in.  I’ll remember what I once was…and reminded of all I’ve received and experienced since then.  Often my eyes fill with tears at the memories of my foolishness and sin.  And in the same instant, my heart will be filled with an unspeakable, holy joy.  By the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, I’ve been forgiven of the countless sins I’ve committed.