Today’s scripture: 1 Timothy 1:12-17 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (Robert Ferguson):
What is grace? We talk about it. We sing about it. We say it’s amazing! We even name our churches and our children for it. But what is it?
The dictionary definition of grace is “unmerited Divine assistance given for justification, regeneration or sanctification.” That says a lot. A free gift from God, it enables us to be saved and to grow in faith.
Paul is a living example of Grace. Paul, the great Apostle to the Gentiles, was not always the servant of Jesus he became. The first time we meet Paul in the Bible he is participating in the stoning of Stephen, whose crime was that he declared Jesus as the Messiah.
One day Paul was on his way to the city of Damascus to arrest more Christians when Jesus appeared to him on the road. It was only after this life changing experience that Paul became the champion of the Gospel.
God could have given up on Paul, but graciously Paul was allowed to live. In fact, God’s grace went even farther. Paul was called to be the one to take the Good News of Jesus Christ beyond Israel and to the nations of the world. He was empowered by the Spirit to lead thousands of Christians to start churches and to write letters that still inspire Christians today.
That’s what Paul is talking about in our reading today. He says,
Though I formerly blasphemed and persecuted and insulted him; but I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
When I was a teenager we had a 1980 Chevy Nova. During my junior year of high school I would drive it to work and back. One day I was driving home from work and it was drizzling some. I was going a little too fast. I lost control of the car and ended up hitting a telephone pole.
The car was dented but no one was hurt. I was devastated, certain that my life would be over as soon as my mom got ahold of me. But when she finally got to the scene of the accident she was more relieved that I was okay. The following weekend rolled around and I needed to get to the stadium for a football game. In a strictly matter of fact manner I mentioned to my mom that I wanted to take the car. My mom smiled at me and said, “You can take my car.”
That’s what grace is like. God gave us this life. But we go and wreck it. God could have said, “I give you life and you go and use it to do selfish things. You go and wreck it! Well I am just going to take it back. You don’t deserve to have a life anymore.” God gave each of us a soul that was beautiful. But we go and make a mess of it. God could have said, “You made your mess now live with it. You messed up what I gave you by sinning. You don’t deserve to have a righteous soul.”
But instead God said, “Here is a new life.” Instead of denying us the righteousness we need, Jesus said, “Here is my righteousness, you can have it.” Then he died on a cross for our sins. We didn’t deserve it. We had made a mess of what God had given us before. But God gives us new life!
Thought for the day: God’s grace is amazing. It took a murderer like Paul and used him to lead a world of sinners to salvation. And it has taken us, sinners and wretches that we are, and given us new life. That is my definition of grace! What’s yours?
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the suggestions on the How to Pray page.