"we also ..were foolish ourselves, .., deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in.. envy, hating one another" Titus 3:3

"If you "dwell on the past," as the phrase goes, you'll only discourage yourself, expend unnecessary emotional energy, and limit spiritual progress. Yet here is the apostle Paul doing so... Repeatedly he goes back to his shattered past and recalls the depth of his own depravity. Listen to him again: "I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy, because I acted ignorantly in unbelief" (1 Tim. 1:13). ...

Else where he speaks of himself as " the very least of all the saints" (Eph. 3:8) and "a nobody" (2 Cor. 12:11). Does the apostle have a self-image problem?...Or do we have something to learn from him about Christian's self-concept?

The self-esteem, self-image, and self-worth gurus fail to grasp the method in the apostle's past-dredging madness--but there is a method, to be sure. recalling the darkness of one's past is valued as a means of reminding oneself (and others) of the greatness of God's grace. How great is God's grace? John Newton knew. It is so amazing that it could save even a wretch like me! Catch it? There is correspondence between one's self-concept as a wretch and one's grasp of the magnitude of God's grace.....

The method in the madness is this principle: he who is forgiven much, loves much (Luke 7:47). Grasp the magnitude of your forgiveness, and you'll be eager to obey [the Lord Jesus]. Measure it by the depths from which you were rescued and the heights to which you have been raised. Dwell on it. Ponder it. As you do, the more you will love Christ in return, the more you will desire to serve Him, and the more you will look with compassion upon those still stuck in the mire from which you have been delivered." -Terry L. Johnson, has been senior pastor at Independent Presbyterian Church in Savannah, Georgia since 1987.

I was decimated the other day, as I drove my work truck to another job site. I began to reminisce of my worse sins. Mostly those when i was an unbeliever. Horrible ungodly things I did. I was really struggling. I prayed. Then the Gospel came to me; to my mind and heart. The good news of Christ, and His promise of salvation. His promise of forgiveness in full. All my sin, even the sins I commit now, are not held against me, and I will not have to give an account for them. Christ became my sin. He died for me, personally. He chose me before the foundations of the world, in spite of my filthy ungodliness, and blasphemies. And as I thought on these truths, and talked with my Savior, I was thankful and peaceful in His truth, and promises.

I truly am grateful that Jesus died for me, and took my sin upon Himself. What a God and Savior we Christians have; though as undeserving as all other sinners; all mankind. And yet, He saved a wretch like me; and He will save any wretch that comes to Him in repentance and faith. The Cross was lifted up; salvation is for all who will come.

" He will again have compassion on us;
he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast all our sins
into the depths of the sea." Micah 7:19