Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
(Ulysses, Alfred, Lord Tennyson)
In his poem, Ulysses, based on the story of Odysseus from the Greek epic, The Odyssey, Victorian poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson presents us with this beautiful line, “that which we are, we are”. Now, although Tennyson talks of the waning strength of the hero (yet his enduring resolve), this statement came back to me as I was reading through Ephesians. The first ten verses of chapter 2 read as a before and after of our life in Christ. So, before we go any further, let’s read through these verses:
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
What We Were…
At the start of his letter to the Ephesians, Paul lays out the great plan of God for all of creation, the abundant blessings made available through that plan, and the victorious position of Christ – having defeated death, now seated above everything in all authority and power. We pick up in chapter 2 with Paul turning his attention to us, considering all that he just said about Christ. He begins by explaining that at one time, those of us that are now in Christ once lived in spiritual death, having no choice but to follow the prince of the power of the air. We were dead. No matter how many good things we did, we were, by nature, children of wrath – sinners. We were… At one time our lives looked like one thing, but now, as Paul tells us in these verses, something happened to make us something altogether different. God made us alive together with Christ. Now, through the resurrection of Jesus, we have been seated with Him in heavenly places, no longer dead in sin, but alive in Him. We were one thing, and now another. We were dead, now alive, we were followers of the enemy, now disciples of Jesus. We were sons of disobedience but now children of God.
That Which We Are, We Are.
There is no use holding onto a past that no longer exists. Whilst I’m sure Tennyson never meant for his poem to be a reflection on the transformed state of a follower of Jesus, within this phrase lies a profound encouragement for us all. Stop allowing the past to have any bearing on your present life. Much of being a disciple of Christ looks like us relearning ways of thinking, speaking, and acting. Our spirit has been raised from the dead, our thoughts and habits are still being renewed. This is the transformation Paul talks about in Romans 12:2 – Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
There is an ongoing change that is taking place in our lives now that we are in Christ, and it begins by realising that we are who He says we are, that we were once one thing, and now, by the grace of God, we are what we are – righteous, accepted, and clean. If we are willing to accept that these things are true, not because of our merit but because of His kindness, our thoughts, words, and actions will begin coming to reflect that new spiritual reality. Why? Because we’re not attempting to become something we’re not – that is impossible. Instead, we are simply learning to live out something we already are. It would be a cruel god that would require us to recreate ourselves, yet it is the very God He is to do what we could not and then help us learn to live it out.
Citizens In A New Country
As I finish, I want to leave you with Romans 6, paraphrased in The Message Bible. I’ve always loved reading through the first seventeen verses in this version because it paints the picture of our sinful nature being a country we no longer live in, nor have any citizenship in. So please read it and allow God’s Word to hit the nail on the head for you.
So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? I should hope not! If we’ve left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn’t you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace—a new life in a new land!
That’s what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we’re going in our new grace-sovereign country.
Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer captive to sin’s demands! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ’s sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That’s what Jesus did.
That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don’t give it the time of day. Don’t even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time—remember, you’ve been raised from the dead!—into God’s way of doing things. Sin can’t tell you how to live. After all, you’re not living under that old tyranny any longer. You’re living in the freedom of God.
The future that God has for us in Christ has no room for a past left behind. We were one thing, now we are another. That which we are, we are.
