WHAT WE WERE

"For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another." (Titus 3:3)

ALTHOUGH IS, in a sense, painful to consider, what we were before coming into Christ is worthy of sober reflection.

FOOLISH. Regardless of the academic attainments some of us may have enjoyed, the proper assessment of our former powers of reason is "foolish!" We did not know what the issues were. We did not know who God was. We did not know what God had done. We did not even know what we had done. Our understanding of Scripture was deplorable. We did not see the world as it was. We were ignorant of heaven, Jesus, salvation, and the New Covenant. We were stumbling down the road that leads to destruction, and did not even know it. The wrath of God was abiding upon us, and we were ignorant of it. We were already condemned and were unaware of it. We did not even know what the real questions were, to say nothing of the proper answers to them. We were "foolish," living our lives just as though there was no God, no heaven, no hell, and no spiritual need. Our minds were the seed-bed for folly, vanity, and utter pointlessness. Imaginations ruled us. We were "fools" in every sense of the word. It will take a lot to save someone like that!

DISOBEDIENT. We did not simply fail to do some more important things, we were altogether "disobedient." That was our nature. If God required us to do something, we did not do it. If He said not to do it, we did it. We were "disobedient." God made us, but we were insubordinate and unruly. We were like the horse and the mule that need a bit and bridle to steer them into the right path (Psa 32:9). We were "children of disobedience" in whom the devil was working (Eph 2:2; 5:6). It will take a lot to save someone like that!

DECEIVED. Satan had "blinded" our minds, so we could not believe the Gospel (2 Cor 4:4). We had a distorted sense of values. We saw this world as the main world, and placed no significance on the world to come. We thought the day of judgment was not all that important, and rarely considered the coming of the Lord and the end of all things. We were "deceived." Satan deceived us, just as surely as he did Eve. We were "led astray" (NRSV) into the realm of spiritual jeopardy and condemnation. Like ignorant sheep, the devil led us into the area where God had no recourse but to condemn us. It will take a lot to save someone like that!

SERVING VARIOUS LUSTS AND PLEASURES. The word "serving" is unusually strong. Other versions read "enslaved to various lusts and pleasures" (NASB/NIV). Various, or divers, lusts and pleasures are desires that rivet us to this world – this cursed and passing world. They tie us to a ship that is sinking, and bind us in a building that is burning. We had variety in our lives, but it was certainly not "the spice of life," as some are wont to say. We served a variety of passions, and all of them were condemned. We could not break away from the things we wanted. We could not even stop wanting them, desiring them, craving them! It will take a lot to save someone like that!

LIVING IN MALICE AND ENVY. Our hearts were like seething pots of poison. Our own persons were the center of our universe. We were opposed to those who did not honor us, entertaining ill will toward those we did not prefer. Sometimes our malice even erupted in casting aspersions against God Himself, as though He had not been good enough to us. Instead of seeking to be like the Lord, we envied men, seeking to be like them. We tended to be jealous over the success of others. We wanted the wrong things, and sought to follow the wrong people. It will take a lot to save someone like that!

HATEFUL AND HATING ONE ANOTHER. Hatred is like an acid to the soul. It consumes the individual like fire taken into the bosom. We did not hate Satan, but those who were made after the likeness of God. We did not hate sin, but those whom we thought unworthy of our attention. We could speak against men without any compunctions. Sometimes our hatred was directed to our own families, friends, and associates. The venom of sin had infected our whole emotional makeup. It will take a lot to save someone like that!

THIS IS HOW JESUS FOUND US! When He came to "seek and to save" us, He found us ravished by sin, hopeless and bludgeoned into despair by the prince of the power of the air, who worked in us according to his own pleasure. A holy Savior found an unholy people! A compassionate Lord found a hateful people! The Son of God, who was obedient in all things, found a wayward and disobedient people!

THIS WILL BE THE TEST OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SALVATION! Will the Savior be able to rescue a people like this? Will the Lord of glory be proficient to change those with such profound and penetrating defilements? Is His arm long enough to reach into the pits of despair? Is His hand strong enough to lift them from the lowest devilish domain to the lofty heavenly places? Can He command light to shine that will dissipate the darkness that dominates this world? That is what salvation needed to do – and it did! Praise God!

– Given O. Blakely