04/09/2026
There is not a day that goes by that I don’t recognize myself to be a sinner. If this is not a humbling experience then I am certainly not mindful of God, and Jesus. Are you conscious of your sinful nature as well? If you are like me, do you work each day to live a life free of sin only to pray repetitively for forgiveness? If so, then like millions before us we are on the road to perfecting ourselves. I am saying this to you today just as the Apostle Paul confessed this same thought to Timothy (1 Timothy 1:15) when he wrote openly of his struggle against sin to him.
“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 conflict with sin. This means that we must also admit to the sin within us. Sure, our sinning has changed since we became a Christians, but as we defeat one sin in our lives 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 a foot or two, rather than yards. They had perfected themselves to the point where winning meant overcoming the tiniest of flaws in their techniques 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 say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
1 John 1:8 ESV
If there was an event in the Olympics called righteousness, we would have to train for a long time before we could compete competitively at an Olympic level of perfection, and we would continuously see that winning required us to reach greater levels of perfection over the most subtle sins. We would always see more sin ahead that we must overcome. What would it take for us to become Olympians; more like Jesus... and like God? How much practice, and how many years? How many admissions like Paul made?
“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 3:12-14 ESV
I also recall how Astronomers once announced that they had calculated the size of the universe. They were absolute in their calculations and spoke with perfect authority, but then the Hubble Space Telescope was launched into orbit, and they were able to see into what they thought was a void between the furthest known galaxies… lo and behold... there were more stars and galaxies. Suddenly all the numbers they had previously provided with such absolute certainly, and all the bold statements they had based on those calculations, had to be changed. By this one eye-opening event they had to admit... “we really don’t know how big it is.” Hubble had humbled them. Our sins are just like this; as we look past one 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.” I hope we can relate to how he feels. The danger here is that by thinking we know the boundaries where faith becomes absolute righteousness, we might be discouraged from striving for greater spiritual perfection, and quit running, or jumping, or looking further into the night sky... and heaven forbid, it might cause us to abandon any attempt at perfecting ourselves as we strive to defeat our 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 our 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.
“Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Romans 5:20-21 ESV
Rich Forbes