Skip to main content

I am the worst….




  There are many things I am not very good at.  Spellling.  Ignoring a strange attributes for politeness sake. (Yes, that woman has spectacularly hairy arms, but quit staring at them.) Wrapping presents.  Dealing with awkward situations.  Faking your way thru not remembering someone’s name.  Preaching (according to some who would know good preaching if they heard it, but they won’t hear it because they are too busy talking in the foyer to hear it!)  Letting go of criticism.  Pronunciation.  Ending phone conversations.  I could name many more things I am bad at (and you could probably do even better), but I made my point.  However, I can’t really say that I am "the worst" at anything. Dead last, absolutely worst is a singular achievement that no one really wants.  We can admit our shortcomings, but to think of ourselves as the worst is a little too bold.

  But that’s just what Paul does in 1st  Timothy 1:15
“It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.”
Chief of sinners, first among the wayward, foremost of the wicked, the worst.  Not only does he make that claim but tells us it is a true statement that we all can apply to ourselves.  How can I be the worst sinner?  
  Now I can see Paul saying that about himself. He was arrogant, sure of his own self-righteousness.  He persecuted Christians. Put innocent people to death.  I may be bad but…..
   Then I remember what I know about sin. That the wages of sin, any sin, is death (Romans 6:23). It doesn’t really matter what he did or what I did, it’s still is sin.  That sin keeps me from being with God (Isaiah 59:2). What could be worse than that?
  The reason I need to realize how bad I am, is so I can grasp how much God did for me in sending his son. He didn’t die for one time did something great Barry, or most of the time average Barry, or maybe worth saving Barry, but Barry at his worst, most petty, vilest, hate filled, mean nastiest self.  That’s how much love was show, when I was the worst, he was the best.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Until Midnight

    In Acts 20, there is the tragicomic event surrounding a young man by the name of Eutychus. He did what a lot of folks before and after him did, he fell asleep during a sermon. Unfortunately, he was setting in in the third story window at the time. So instead of nodding off and hitting the pew in front of him, he fell to his death. The good news was the apostle Paul was delivering the sermon and had the ability to bring him back.       I don’t know, however, if we can judge Eutychus too harshly. The sermon had gone on till midnight. Paul wouldn’t finish it up till daybreak. That’s a long lesson. I know some folks that might want to jump out of a window if I had a lesson that long, yet these Christians wanted to be there to hear Paul.   Don’t get me wrong, I’m not pushing for all night sermons but I think we might need to adopt these folks' dedication. They knew that Paul was only in town for a limited time only and they were determined to ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Gift You Give Yourself

    I always hated buying gifts for my Mom. If I got her something like a new set of pans, it was like saying “Here’s something you can use to go make me something to eat”. A gift for her was seemingly a gift for me.   There are however gifts you give that benefit you more than the receiver. For example, forgiveness. When you give it, you are giving it to yourself as much as you are giving it to them. Jesus said that when we forgive others it means God is forgiving us our wrongs (Matthew 6:14-15).  I once read: “ Heaven is where everyone's forgiven. Hell is where nobody's forgiven.  So, when we forgive we pull heaven down into our lives.  When we withhold forgiveness, we pull hell up into our lives ” Give yourself something nice today, Forgive.
Post a Comment
Read more

Why Does A Lion Tamer Use a Chair?

  Ok, I know you have seen the image. A lion tamer enters in the cage of the beast and forces it to obey his commands using a whip, a gun and a chair. Now you can see how the whip and gun could come in handy but you might be wondering why a chair would intimidate an animal as powerful as a lion? Clyde Beatty taming a lion with a chair   It's not that the lion is afraid of the chair -- it's that the lion is confused by the chair. Cats are single-minded, and the points of the chair's four legs bobbing around confuse the lion enough that it loses its train of thought. Casually put, the chair distracts the lion from wanting to claw the lion tamer's face off. The powerful creature could destroy the chair in moment’s notice but instead it is distracted into submission.  It’s not too much different than how Satan controls us today. By the power of God we could overcome anything that he would use to subdue us. We can overcome the evil one (1 st John 2:13-14). ...
Post a Comment
Read more