04/09/2018
There is not a day that goes by that I don’t recognize myself to be a sinner. If this is not a humbling realization then I am not in the presence of God, and Jesus. Are you conscious of your sinful nature as well? Do you too work daily to live a life free of sin only to pray repetitively for forgiveness? Then like millions before us you are on the road to perfection.
“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 1:15 ESV
The apostle Paul didn’t say “I was the foremost” sinner, he said “I am the foremost” which means that he was acknowledging his ever-present sin. This means that we must also admit to the sin within us. Sure, your sinning May have changed since you became a Christian, but as we have defeated one it allows us to see another more clearly.
I loved to play sports when I was younger, I played football in high school, and played baseball, rugby, and ran a little track when I was in college, but I was never the greatest at any of them... there was always something to improve, and someone who was better. If I learned anything by participating in athletics it was that as I trained, and got better, I always saw something more that I needed to perfect.
We recently watched the Winter Olympics and one thing stands out to us as we watch such competitions... the winning athletes were better by mere seconds not minutes, or jumped further by a few inches, or at best feet, rather than yards. They had perfected themselves to the point where winning meant overcoming the minutest flaw in their technique, or performing a very subtle physical skill with almost perfect precision. These are the same athletes who fell down a million times before, or told their coaches that they just couldn’t get it. If we were to have an event in the Olympics called righteousness, we would have come a long way to reach this level of perfection, but now we would see that winning requires us to reach perfection over the most subtle of sins, yet always seeing more sin ahead to defeat. What would it take for us to become Olympians; more like Jesus... like God? How much practice, and how many years?
Astronomers once announced that they had calculated the size of the universe. They were absolute in their calculations and spoke with authority, but then the Hubble Space Telescope was launched into orbit, and they were able to see into what was once only darkness between the furthest galaxies... lo and behold... there were more stars and galaxies. Suddenly all the numbers they had previously provided with such certainly, and all the theories they had based on those calculations, had to be changed. In this one eyeopening event they had to admit... “we really don’t know how big it is.” Hubble had humbled them. Our sins are like this; as we look past one sin there is another, and another, and another.
So when we hear the apostle Paul say things like “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” we can relate to how he feels. The danger here is that thinking this way might discourage us, and cause us to quit running, or jumping, playing basketball, or looking further into the night sky... and, heaven forbid, it might cause us to abandon perfecting ourselves as we defeat sin.
“For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”
1 Corinthians 15:9-10 ESV
Paul came to the realization that he couldn’t do this alone, and in truth he couldn’t have even begun to do it without having been struck down by Jesus and transformed, but even then he needed more, he needed the grace of God to carry him further. Paul’s entire life was spent seeking righteousness and perfection... just as ours should be. Perfection isn’t an event in our lives, it is a process. It is the training of our bodies, minds, spirits, and souls to be more like Jesus as we work out our own salvation in fear and trembling, and it is to humbly accept God’s grace as we confront sin.
“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
Philippians 2:12-13 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the distance you have brought me in my faith, and I thank you for revealing to me the miles that I must yet travel towards perfection. Help me Merciful Father as I confront my sin and seek to overcome it. Help me to understand that my perfection is not at hand, but lacks much. Lead me forward towards that place where you would have me be now, and then give me sight to see further into who you are, and where I need to go next. This journey I am on can be disheartening Lord, but when it looks insurmountable, I feel your grace being poured out over me, and taste the joy of what lies ahead. Thank you for your mercy, thank you for your grace, and thank you for the humble nature I feel when confronted by your presence and perfection. Holy Father I worship and adore you, I praise your mercy and sing of the obedience found in your Son Jesus as He gave Himself to be the Perfect Sacrifice by which my sin could be defeated. When I fail, His blood cleanses me, and your forgiveness is given me. Holy Father lead me on, and I will revel in the journey, take heart in each defeated sin, and thrill at the sound of your voice beckoning me “Come!” You are my God, and you are Holy, Holy, Holy, in all things and in all ways. Your perfection is without end, and your grace a sea with no shore.
Rich Forbes