Hey Kids!

Paul writes in First Timothy that he is thankful that the Lord found him faithful putting him into the ministry. Then he comments about how horrible and sinful he was before that, even consenting to the murder of Stephen and others! Because of conviction the Word of God and the conviction of the Holy Spirit he knew that he was doing these things ignorantly in unbelief as to who Jesus really is and he received mercy from God. He didn’t get struck down dead, but he did see a bright light from heaven, so bright that it blinded him. Paul reflects on his own life and he felt because of his sin and the unbelief in his heart that he was the worst of all sinners. 1 Tim. 1:14 says he realized “Jesus Christ came to die to save sinners, of whom I am chief.”

There are a many things we could talk about here but let’s talk about humility. Most of you are pretty young and you haven’t committed any violent crimes. It is easy to agree with Paul that he was definitely a chief of sinners. But all of us are guilty, all of us have sin—all of us are in need of Jesus as a savior to save us. The humility of Paul is a beautiful thing. Paul says he was insolent, which means violently arrogant. In another place Paul talks about all of his accomplishments, all of his certificates, awards, achievements. All the things people would say “WOW” about. He says it is all garbage in comparison to Jesus! Isn’t that humble? Isn’t that a remarkable change? He isn’t saying that God needed him, or that he could have received salvation all on his own. That would be pride. Pride says that we can do it on our own. But God wants us to see that it is through the grace and mercy of God through Jesus that we can be saved!

So where are you with God and humility? Paul realized how merciful God is in showing him longsuffering. We don’t hear that word very often, to suffer long… it means to be super-patient. God was probably convicting him when he would see Christians praying and worshiping God. He knew the old testament better than any one; God probably dropped hints to Paul all along that He needed to turn to him but at the time he was arrogant. So Paul uses him self as a pattern to others who are going to believe in Jesus. He says “Look at Paul, remember how bad he was? God saved him, so He can save you too. Just like Paul, God doesn’t remind us of all of our past sins. He forgives and forgets better than anyone. In Psalms it says that He removes our sin as far as the east is from the west. That means our sin is never to be seen or heard of again. As long as we don’t bring it up, God will never bring it up to us. To end this note this month, 1 Tim 1:17 says, “not to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and lgory forever and ever amen.”

Call or write to me if you have any thoughts or questions my number at church 385-0450.

Godspeed!

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