“I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent…The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.”
1 Timothy 1:12-15
What an amazing truth is stated here. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. The Son of God. The Holy One. We don’t fathom the depths and wickedness of our sin—we try to justify and lessen it—but He fully knows its evil. Yet He came. And died. To save us.
Our Lord looks upon each of His chosen and, judging us faithful and worthy of trust, appoints us to His service. Despite the sin that reigned in our lives. Despite our very nature that rebels against Him and runs after idols. We receive mercy and can say with Paul, “the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 1:14).
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17). God sent His Son into the world to save it. Because He knew this was the only hope we had. This was the only way to satisfy His wrath, to show us grace without compromising His justice. We were guilty. Unable to pay our debt to an infinitely holy God. And He loved us enough to do all that grace required.
Our powerful Savior “is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him” (Hebrews 7:25). To the uttermost. There is not a speck of our lives He does not redeem. No stain He fails to cleanse. It doesn’t matter how far off we’ve been, how dark or wretched our sin, how hopeless it feels to escape it. He saves you to the uttermost, if you will only look to Him.
“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29
“And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, ‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.’” Mark 2:16-17
In Pleasant Places 