Jesus Christ Came To Save Sinners

"Today's Devotion" For June 10, 2005

Read: I Timothy 1:12-17; Psalm 15

JESUS CHRIST CAME TO SAVE SINNERS

"This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of who I am the chief." (I Tim. 1:15)

It's hard to imagine someone going to the emergency room of a hospital and denying they have a problem. I recently read about a man who arrived at a local hospital's emergency room with an uncontrollable nose bleed. He had been playing basketball and had been hit in the nose with an elbow. His nose had been bleeding for hours. The emergency room doctor, after examining him, suggested the man was having a stroke. At this news the man angrily got up, walked out of the emergency room and never came back. No one could find him. What happened to him and his nosebleed is a mystery. He could even have died.

This man's situation isn't so unlike our spiritual condition. Our condition is terminal. Eternal death is knocking at our doors. Yet, all too often we don't like this diagnosis of our sinful condition and deny our need for any "spiritual treatment." We get up and walk out of the "Emergency Room" of God's Word and go off on our own with no hope of surviving the deadly "stroke" of Sin. St. Paul notes that he had been a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man and, as such, had persecuted God's people. Paul knew and understood that it's a serious matter for human beings to deny the immanence of their sinful condition. Sadly, all too often, people don't take their sins seriously and end up being, like Paul had been, "the chief of sinners."

Even as redeemed children of our Father in heaven, we are pretty good about ignoring the symptoms of the spiritual sickness of Sin that permeates each of our lives. We tend to overlook our own shortcomings and our need for a Savior. Somehow, some way, we human beings do a very good job of ignoring the reality of Sin in our lives. Thankfully, God never gives up on us. By the power of His Word and Spirit, He leads us to acknowledge our sin and seek ways to share the Father's love for Christ with the world. We have the confident assurance that Christ Jesus came to save sinners. God's forgiveness is our every day in Christ. We experience that forgiveness every time we remember our baptisms. God's Word comes to us so that we might acknowledge our Sin, repent before the throne of God's grace, and, receiving His forgiveness and love in Christ, seek to share Jesus with others, even if they're like us - "the chief of Sinners."

Prayer: Father, thank You for sending Jesus into the world to be my Savior and Lord. Forgive me for ignoring the truth of Your Word and substituting my own ideas and thoughts for Your truth. Help me to acknowledge the hope that is mine in Jesus. Lead me to live my life in a way that fully comprehends Your truth and lives Your Word each moment. Help me to acknowledge my own guilt before You and rejoice in Your forgiveness. Let my life be a constant reminder to others of God's love for the world in Jesus Christ; in whose precious name - Jesus -I pray. Amen.
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--Pastor Boeck

Copyright @2005 Rev. Richard J. Boeck, Jr. All rights reserved.