Then And Now

Good News –February 2019 – Grace & Truth Magazine

Then And Now

“For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.” –Ephesians 5:8 KJV

The apostle Paul wrote these words to the Christians in Ephesus, but I take this personally about myself. As a young man I participated in various forms of immorality, and I was taken up with drunkenness and tavern life. As John Newton wrote in his well-known hymn, “Amazing Grace,” I was a wretch. Ephesians 4:18-19 describes such ones as John Newton and me: “Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: who being past feeling have given themselves over to lasciviousness [lewdness, NKJV ], to work all uncleanness with greediness.” Lasciviousness is sin. Even though I was part of a large Christian denomination, receiving Holy Communion, I was living in complete darkness. That was my life, but Christ changed it. He brought me to repentance – a changed mind.

Our verse in Ephesians 5 simply says, “But now are ye light in the Lord.” Nearly 63 years ago I let Jesus Christ into my life. “Now” I seek to walk as a child of light, which can only be done with the guidance of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. My understanding was formerly darkened, my heart had been blind, but now my eyes of understanding are enlightened (1:18). Very soon after believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, I was separated from my life of darkness, instead joining true Christians in Bible study, gatherings and preaching.

God wants us to “know.” People of the world claim to be enlightened, knowing all sorts of things. This is nothing new, for a man named Balaam said his own eyes were “opened” (Num. 24:3,15), but by reading about his life we quickly see he was blind to God. We must be careful about what we know. As believers He desires us to “know what is the hope of His calling, and ... the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints (Eph. 1:18). Yes, we are His inheritance!

God’s “power is us-ward” (v.19). It is the power God worked “in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all ...” (vv.20-21). The Father desires that His Son have the exalted, preeminent place in all things – even in our thoughts (Col. 1:18, 3:1-2; Phil. 4:8).

Ephesians 1 goes on to say that Christ is “far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come” (v.21). We are told by the world that the name of Jesus Christ is offensive. That is the view of those who are blind! The true Christian knows the value of His name.

God has “put all things under His feet” (v.22). These are the same feet that walked through the dirt in Israel, the feet that wore the sandals that John the Baptist said he was “not worthy to unloose” (Jn. 1:27). These very feet, along with His hands, were “pierced” (Ps. 22:16); “He was wounded for our transgressions [sin]” (Isa. 53:5). This Man, God has given “to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all” (Eph. 1:22-23). We are His fullness; we are that important to Him! Having the eyes of our understanding enlightened, do we think, live and act according to His sovereignty? He fills all in all. That shows Him to be the most important person in the universe – and we are seen in Him, “as children of light.”

This is the true story of every person who has accepted God’s offer of free salvation. What about you? Which life are you living? “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). If you have not done so, will you accept His gift now? Change your way of thinking, confess to Him that you are a sinner, believe in Him and welcome Him into every part of your life! We can tell you more.

By Curt Darling