A Trustworthy Saying...

"¹⁵Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. ¹⁶But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. ¹⁷Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen." 1 Timothy 1:15-17 (NIV)

Lately, I have been reading through 1 Timothy. I just finished Chapter 1 yesterday. (I have been working through it since last Saturday. The more time I have been spending with God, the richer His Word becomes and the more I find in each verse...so much so that I can only get through a few verses a day! His Word is so rich!) This particular passage has stuck out to me, particularly as I have been praying and meditating over it, letting it invade my being. Let's look into this passage, and see what God has to say.

So what is this trustworthy saying? Why does it deserve full acceptance? This great and trustworthy saying deserves full acceptance because it is good news to all who are perishing: Christ Jesus came into the world (Which would be Earth-shattering news enough. The fact that God, the creator of all, Who is above all, Who is perfect, would come into a world that is chained in sin, to a people who are not perfect, who are rebellious and sinful, to a place of suffering and death and pain ~ That is unthinkable in itself! That God would even stoop to Earth to be with us, and to put on human flesh, to "empty" Himself and live among us, is unbelievable news as it is. But it gets better) He came into the world to save sinners. All of us, no matter what we have done, He has come so we might have life. This "saying" deserves full acceptance! This is the greatest news to ever come our way. We should shout it from the rooftops, tell everyone we meet that Christ Jesus came to the Earth as one if us to save sinners! What a blessed hope!

However, this news seems to barely move us. Why are we so apathetic to this? Why does this news seem old and obvious? Why doesn't it grip us? As I was praying and meditating over this, I realized that we can get so excited on good news like our favorite team winning the Superbowl, or we got that raise that we always wanted, or that new sports car, or we just saw the greatest movie ever. And yet, when we get to the greatest news of all, we sort of shrug and and acknowledge that He saved us. Why aren't we overwhelmed by the implications of this truth? When you compare the great Good News of Christ with the things we get excited with, it is like comparing a nuclear explosion, and a tiny firecracker.

I imagine that most of us have been told that Christ died to save us, and we said "the sinner's prayer" but how many of us realize what He did for us? We approach the greatest day in the history of the universe with such flippancy. The fact that He made Himself nothing, taking on the nature of a servant, and came to Earth, and then died, taking our sin on Him to save us so we could be with Him forever~ this ought to transform our lives! He did and gave so much! And we give Him so little. We treat the greatest day in history as just another day. The way we live shows that we really don't care. We haven't let this glorious Gospel impact our hearts and our minds. We sure can talk a good talk, but our lives don't show the glorious Gospel we halfheartedly proclaim. We honor Him with our words but our hearts are far from Him. We need to realize how great this Good News is and let it Transform us!

In View of such a great and trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance, we ought to join Paul by saying: "Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen." (1 Timothy 1:17, NIV)

For Christ's Glory!