The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” – Psalm 103:8-12
When people oppose the gospel message, there’s usually two responses. One is pride, and the other is shame. “Well, I’m happy for you. But I’m doing quite well without God, thank you very much.” Or, “God would want nothing to do with me. I’ve done a lot of bad things in my life, and I’m afraid that I’m beyond help.”
The truth is that no one is beyond the reach of God’s grace, whether it’s a mountain of pride or a mountain of sin and shame standing in between us and Him. But we often judge others, or even ourselves, thinking that certain sins are too great to be forgiven.
We need not look any further than Saul of Tarsus to realize that God is in the business of changing and saving lives. Saul could’ve easily held on to his pride and continued persecuting the early church. Or, he also could’ve held on to the guilt and shame of his past and claimed that he wasn’t worthy of God’s mercy and forgiveness. But thankfully that day on the road to Damascus, he responded to Jesus’ offer of salvation and went from being Saul to Paul, from persecutor to a preacher, from a zealous adversary to one of the gospel’s greatest advocates whose ministry would change the course of history.
No one is beyond the reach of God’s grace. If He can redeem a man like Saul – He can redeem anyone!
Former Blackout Artist 