SCRIPTURE

Galatians 4:8 (NASB95)

8However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods.

Deuteronomy 15:15 (NASB95)

15You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today.

COWBOY WISDOM

Folks who take in neglected horses tend to do something that seems odd at first. Somewhere in the tack room, pinned up by the saddle racks, there’s a photo of the horse the day it came off the trailer — ribs showing, hooves grown long and cracked, coat dull, head hung low, flinching at every hand. Months later that same horse is slick and filled out, packing a rider with his ears up. Visitors ask why anybody would keep such a sorry picture around. The answer is always the same: so we never forget where he came from, and so we never take for granted what he’s become.

Paul hands the Galatians that kind of picture: “However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods” (Galatians 4:8). Before they came to Christ, they had bowed to Zeus and Hermes — gods that weren’t gods at all, that couldn’t hear a prayer or lift a finger to help. God gave Israel the same kind of reminder long before: “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you.” Remembering was never meant to shame them. It was meant to keep them grateful — and to keep them from ever wanting to load back up on that trailer.

Every one of us has a picture like that. “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another” (Titus 3:3). Paul told the Ephesians to keep their picture handy too: “remember that you were at that time separate from Christ … having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:12–13). The “but now” only means something if you remember the “at that time.”

There’s a ditch on both sides of this road. Some folks stare at the old picture so long they forget the horse has been made new: “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Others take the picture down entirely and start living like they were never in bad shape to begin with — and before long they’re careless, proud, or hard on the next sorry-looking soul who comes off the trailer. Keep the picture up, but keep it in its place: a reminder of the God who redeemed you. “But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart … and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness” (Romans 6:17–18).

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

1. What does your “picture in the tack room” look like? What were you enslaved to before you came to know God?
2. Does remembering your past tend to make you grateful, or does it drag you into shame? How does 2 Corinthians 5:17 speak to that?
3. Is there anyone you’ve been hard on lately who reminds you of who you used to be? How might remembering your own “before” change the way you treat them?
4. What’s one practical way you could keep God’s rescue in front of you this week — a verse on the mirror, your story told to a friend, a moment of thanks each morning?

PRAYER FOCUS

Father, thank You for coming after me when I was serving things that could never love me back. Help me remember where You found me — not so I’ll live in shame, but so I’ll live in gratitude. Keep me from ever wanting to go back to that old bondage, and make me gentle with others who are standing where I used to stand. You redeemed me, and I never want to forget it. In Jesus’ name, Amen.