Awe Struck

The past couple days I have been hanging out in 1 Timothy trying to zoom out and see the bigger picture of the book. Right off the top Paul leads out with a great rendition of his story. It might be tough to see it, but here it is...

After Paul greets Timothy, he explains why he left Timothy in Ephesus, "to correct the punks who are teaching weird stuff."

Paul goes on to point out what preoccupied these "teachers": myths, genealogies and speculations. He tells Timothy these guys wanted to be teachers of God's law, but they are either ignorant or confused about what they are teaching.

"God's law is good," Paul tells Timothy, "if it is used correctly." The Law is for bad people, really bad people."

Here is where it gets good...

Paul then thanks God for allowing him to service, since Paul was one of these really bad people. As a matter of record, Paul says he was the baddest of the bad and yet the love of Jesus was more then enough to forgive his sin and restore him to purity before God! God saved Paul as an example of his long suffering and patience, so that all unbelievers might find mercy.

What a (lets go old skool here...) testimony of how God works! This chapter is a beautiful picture of what God can do with screwed up people. Jesus saves the lawless, the rebellious, the ungodly, the sinners, the unholy, the profane, those who kill their fathers or mothers, murderers and the immoral, homosexuals, kidnappers, liars and perjurers! Not to mention the squeaky clean, goodie-two-shoes as well!

Once again, I am stuck by God's love and his willing to rescue people who are infested will evil.

Isn't this what sharing our story should be all about? We don't need some crazy story to tell, our own encounter with God is enough to share.