1 Timothy 1:12-17

What words of encouragement can a father give to his son as he approaches manhood? While not a new idea, upon completion of his ninth grade, I took my son on a prayer retreat, just the two of us. Although it was not a long trip, it was a significant one. It was my opportunity to encourage him, to praise him, to pray for him and to "pass the blessing" that my father had given to me. While together I shared this passage and these thoughts.

What I was!

Paul describes himself as the chief among sinners. He reminds young Timothy -- who was like his son in the ministry -- that he (Paul) was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an arrogant man. What horrible attributes these are. To be a blasphemer meant to bear "stupid injury" in the old Greek. Paul had been guilty of bringing injury to people and to Christ's work that now he realized was based on ignorance and made no sense at all. Paul also says he was one who pursued "with a vengeance", a persecutor. Further, he claims he was arrogant, one who was proud of his state. As Saul of Tarsus there is no real account of how his sins wreaked havoc on the young Christian world.

You see Paul's testimony about who he was, is really my testimony about who I was. Oh, the list of sins may be different. I never had anyone beaten or put to death. Nonetheless, there were times that my sins did just as much damage. My sins made me just as guilty. My sins made me need a savior just as much as Paul.

What I want you to understand is that without Christ we really are nothing. Truly, we have all sinned and regardless of the sin, we still are in need of the Savior.

What He Did!

Quickly Paul moves from who he was to what a great thing God had done for him. "I received mercy," he declares, "and the grace of our Lord overflowed." Even knowing who he was and his reputation for disaster, I can not imagine how he must of felt when he discovered that mercy and grace.

What I can tell you is how I felt when I discovered that God loved me enough to cover my sins with that same mercy and grace. I discovered that God's grace is sufficient for all. I discovered that His mercy is complete. Never have I felt so unworthy, so humbled by His presence. Fall prostrate before Him? I tell you flat on the floor was not enough. I wanted to peel up the carpet. I wanted to be as low at the foot of the cross as I could be.

But, because of His grace, because of His mercy, He said, "Get up!" He reminded me that He did not send His son to put me down, but to pick me up! In that moment I knew I really was standing on holy ground. I remembered my dad singing an old song with the words, "What He's done for others, He'll do for you." That's exactly what He did for me - covered who I was, what I had been, and all the wrong I ever thought about with the blood of His son. What mercy and grace!