READING: Isaiah 33-35; 1 Corinthians 6
“And some of you used to be like this” (1 Cor 6:11).
There’s so much hope in those words that it’s almost impossible to capture my joy. In their lostness, the Corinthians had been, at least, idolatrous, sexually immoral, greedy, verbally abusive, drunken, and swindling. They had given clear evidence of their spiritual condition apart from Christ, and Paul wanted them to remember how much they had needed God’s grace.
Indeed, he told them what God had done for them: “But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor 6:11). In the miracle of God’s intervention, He had cleansed them from their sin, broken their sin patterns, drawn them to Him in holiness, and declared them righteous. The trinitarian God was on their side; they were unworthy, but He had made them new. Who they were was not who they had once been.
How glorious this truth is! No matter who we are, where we’ve been, or what we’ve done, God transforms us through His grace. How we used to be is past tense.
PRAYER: “I praise You, Lord, for Your transforming grace.”
TOMORROW’S READING: 2 Chronicles 28, 2 Kings 17, Psalm 66, 1 Corinthians 7