Every Believer's Past

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.

Colossians 1:21

This verse reveals the past of every single believer. If you are a Christian then there was a time when you were alienated from God... cut off from relationship with Him... banned from His presence... estranged from the One who created you. The Word Biblical Commentary explains it this way. It says you were “continuously and persistently out of harmony with God.”*

Why? What caused this alienation? Did God turn on you? No. You turned on Him! Colossians 1:21 says that you were "an enemy in your mind because of your evil behavior." There was a time when you were consciously, openly and actively hostile towards God and His rule over your life. And it in your mind. Corrupt thinking led to evil, wicked, immoral behavior.** You thought you knew better than the Creator of the universe. You didn’t want to obey His commands or submit to His rules, so… you didn’t. You lived how you wanted to live and you did what you wanted to do.

Romans 8:7 says “The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.” That perfectly describes what you were like before Christ.

If you are a Christian, then this is your past. This is who you were. Many Christians think that since they weren’t a criminal or a drug addict before they got saved, that they really weren’t all that bad. Don’t fall into that error. No matter how young you were when you got saved, and no matter how “good” you were by the world’s standards… your thinking was corrupt, your heart was wicked, and your behavior was evil. You rebelled and made yourself an enemy of God. And because of your rebellion, you were alienated from your Creator.

If you are a Christian and you still live like this, then that’s a problem! If you are a Christian and you are still hostile towards the Lord, you are still rebelling against Him, you are still openly disobeying His commands… then SOMETHING IS WRONG!!! That’s your past. We don’t live like that anymore now that we have been reconciled through Christ.

* O’Brien, Peter T. Colossians, Philemon. Word Biblical Commentary 44. David A. Hubbard and Glenn W. Barker eds. (Thomas Nelson: Nashville) 1982, p66

** Köstenberger, Andreas J. “Colossians.” In CSB Study Bible: Notes, edited by Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax, 1891–99. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017.

You Can't Hurt a Dead Person

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world...

Ephesians 2:1-2

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect...

I Peter 3:15-16

Have you ever taken a CPR course? I've taken four or five and one thing I've heard instructors address is people's reticence to perform CPR in a real world scenario. Often people are afraid that they will do it wrong somehow. "What if I do the chest compressions too fast or too slow?" or "What if I get the number of breaths wrong?" Good instructors point out the obvious. If a person needs CPR then their heart has stopped and they are dead. You can't hurt a dead person! You can't. Maybe you can't remember how to do everything exactly right in the moment. That's okay. Do something! They're dead. Anything you do is going to help.

The same is true when it comes to sharing your faith. Many believers struggle with the idea of sharing the gospel. They say, "I'm not good at talking; I might share the gospel wrong." or "I might confuse or offend them and push them farther away from Christ." But the Bible tells us that those who have rejected God are not only lost in their sins but are also spiritually dead. They are on their way to Hell. Guess what? If you somehow mess up your gospel presentation they are not going to become any more spiritually dead than they already are. They are not going to go to "Hell 2.0" because you drove them farther away. They are spiritually dead. You can't make it any worse, so do something! Say something! 

It's great that we want to share the gospel the right way. And that's a good reason to prepare and practice to do it well. We want to be ready to give an answer when the opportunity comes. But don't ever use that as an excuse to not share the gospel. So prepare yourself, memorize some verses, but above all don't be too afraid. You can't hurt a dead person. Just do something to try to help.