Saved Only by Grace

1 Timothy 1:15

Paul wasn’t just acting humble when he declared that he was the worst of sinners. He never forgot that, and his blind zeal for Jewish religious traditions, he had arrested and tortured numerous Christians and urged that they be killed. Looking back on his crimes years later, he bluntly stated that any righteousness he once thought he had he now realized was “rubbish.“ Why did God choose such a violent sinner for one of His leading apostles? Paul explained that God wanted to show by his example that there was no person so vile or sinful that He couldn’t redeem them. You might also ask why God chose Peter as leading apostle after Peter cursed and swore that he didn’t even know Jesus. The Lord wanted someone representing His Gospel, who knew that he was unworthy, who was convinced that he, and others, could only be saved by God‘s grace. Think for a moment life Jesus saved you from, and remind yourself that it was by grace you were saved, not by your own goodness (Ephesians 2:89).