God has the power to use even me. And, God has the power to use even you. This is how this passage begins. Paul, writing from gratitude and with complete honesty, shares how first, he's grateful to Christ Jesus for transforming him to be "adequate to do this work," calling this an act of going "out on a limb," "in trusting me with this ministry. Paul states that his only credential to do this kind of work were not really credentials at all, if anything they were the things that most employers would run from instead of to, in selecting someone like Paul to do the kind of work that he did. Would you hire someone who admitted to being "invective (abusive, insulting) and witch hunts and arrogant"? No. But God saw beyond that and saw the potential that was in Paul as God has seen in me and in you. Paul and I, and many of you, were treated mercifully because while we did not know what we were doing, even Who we were doing it against, selected to carry on the great work of sharing Jesus. I love the phrase in this version, "Grace mixed with faith and love poured ove me and into me. And all because of Jesus."
That's my life's story. And it may, or could be, yours too. When we might have deserved harsh treatment, God came and bathed us with grace and faith and love and not only poured over us to cleanse us, but into us, to fill us with the transforming power of God's Holy Spirit to equip us for the great work of sharing Jesus. And the message has not changed since Paul's day nor has the need: "Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners." Paul says, as do I, and many of you, "I'm proof -- Public Sinner Number One -- of someone who could never have made it apart from sheer mercy."
What do we do to give honor and credit to God for having changed us? What do we do to show our gratitude for removing our sins? I'll never forget the story told to a group of youth on the beach not two months ago, about a similar setting where a youth of about 15 wept and wept after a service and she was asked by the preacher at this event, why she wept, and this girl replied that she could not believe that God would forgive her sins. Yes, God did forgive her, as God forgave John Wesley, who wrote that he believed that God forgave "even my sins." And as we might write, that God forgive our sins. And while our verdict should have read Guilty, Jesus declares, Innocent.
PRAYER: LOVING GOD, such an awesome story is ours. May I have the boldness and courage to share it with all who might receive, that Jesus Christ did indeed come to save sinners and forgave even me. Thank You! I pray this in Christ Jesus' precious and powerful name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
