Big Time Sinners

Read I Timothy 1:1-20

“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom
I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy
so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might
display his unlimited patience as an example for those
who would believe on him and receive eternal life.”
(I Timothy 1:15-16)

Thoughts… If God could save Paul, God can save anyone. He was a super-pious religious zealot who thought he was doing God a favor each time he imprisoned, persecuted, or killed a Christian. He was intolerant, close-minded, bigoted, and arrogant…and that was on a good day.

Yet God reached him. Actually God slapped him up side the head on the Damascus Road one day. You can read that dramatic story in Acts 9. Paul was radically and completely transformed by his encounter with the risen Savior. He had met Jesus, and in that meeting, he didn’t stand a chance. He became a trophy of God’s grace.

Now the truth is, you weren’t any better off that the pre-converted Paul before God found you. Neither was I. We, too, are trophies of God’s grace. We were messed up, sin prone, hell bound sinners who deserved nothing but eternal punishment. But we were just the kind of people that Jesus came into this world to redeem. And for that, you and I will give thanks before the throne of God for all eternity.

So here’s the deal: If God could save dirty, rotten sinners like Paul, you and me, he can save that resistant sinner who lives in your house, or next door, or who goes to your school, or works in the office next to you. You have been praying for them, but there seems to be no response, no interest, not even the slightest crack in their spiritual armor.

Don’t give up! They may be just a prayer away from getting totally messed up through a radically transforming encounter with Jesus. That’s why he came, to save sinners just like them. He saved Paul, didn’t he? He saved you, didn’t he?

May that big time sinner you’re praying for is next!

Prayer… Dear Father, thank you for your redeeming grace in my life. I will never get over that. Throughout eternity I will fall before your throne in humble gratitude for saving me, the worst of sinners. Now Lord, release your saving grace to those dear people in my life who do not know you yet. Confront them with your love—today. Make them the newest trophies of your grace.

One More Thing… “The bridge of grace will bear your weight, brother. Thousands of big sinners have gone across that bridge, yea, tens of thousands have gone over it. I can hear their trampings now as they traverse the great arches of the bridge of salvation. They come by the thousands, by their myriads, e’er since that day when Christ first entered His glory. They come and yet never a stone has sprung in that mighty bridge. Some have been the chief of sinners and some have come at the very last of their days but the arch has never yielded beneath their weight. I will go with them…trusting to the same support. It will bear me over as it has for them.” —Charles Spurgeon