Our scripture for Sunday is 1 Timothy 1:12-17.
Paul starts out with a thank you. A thank you for what? He gives Christ thanks for being appointed to the ministry of preaching and teaching, even though Paul used to be the main adversary for the early Church. He used to hunt down followers of “The Way” (early Christians). Yet, after his encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, Paul (who was called Saul at the time) became a follower of Jesus Christ and eventually became the leading preacher and teacher in the early Church.
But, Paul doesn’t end with his personal story. He brings the whole world into this passage. After declaring himself an example of Christ’s radical love, Paul says that “[t]his saying is reliable and deserves full acceptance: ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners'”. Christ did not come to the world to destroy or shun it. Christ came to restore us, heal us, and lead us back into a healthy relationship with God.
Friends, that is indeed Good News! It doesn’t matter what has happened in your lives, your past doesn’t define you. The radical love of God through Jesus Christ defines you! And it is the transforming love of the Holy Spirit that leads us not only to live as a accepted and forgiven people, but we are to accept and forgive others.
Christ’s Peace,
Pastor T. Wes Moore