He was the last person you would expect to be called a sinner. And definitely not the worst of sinners!
He was the kind of model citizen that impresses people with their commitment to doing what is right. From the day he was born, he was raised to be a good, devout person, and someone who did all the things that pleased God. So, what happened? How could he look at his life and say, “I am the worst of sinners”?
This was a man named Paul who we read about in the Bible, and his story teaches me a couple of things. First, it teaches me that we are not as good as we think we are. We all have a list of things we think are really bad, and things we think are probably not that bad. But have you ever thought about God’s list? Perhaps we have not done some of the terrible things that other people have, but that’s just a comparison to other sinners. The truth is that all of us have done something we know is not right. We can try to excuse it as a “mistake,” or a “mix-up,” but no matter what label we put on it, we can’t deny that we’ve done it. The Bible says very clearly: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). So, people who seem to be good - even extremely religious people like Paul - are still sinners.
But another thing that I learn from this story is that God’s mercy is far bigger than we can imagine. Listen to what Paul said: “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief ” (1 Timothy 1:15). Paul realized that it didn’t matter how many good things he had done, he was still a sinner. But that means he was exactly the type of person that Jesus Christ died for and rose again to save! When he realized that, he stopped trusting that his good works were enough to please God. He became a follower of the Jesus and spent the rest of his life telling others to follow Jesus too!
Paul’s story gives me hope. If God’s grace is big enough to forgive the worst of sinners, then He can definitely forgive you. He has already saved the worst of sinners. He can save you too!
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