Week 4: Chief Among Sinners
“The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” 1 Timothy 1:15
It’s easy to underestimate the corrupting force of sin in our own lives. Sin warps the way we think and react moment by moment, and it blinds us to the reality of the world around us.
It’s the reason Christ didn’t merely call his followers to change their behavior or try to think differently. He called them to crucify their old lives.
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:24–25)
“Dying to self” is a complete transformation. While we are washed clean and made blameless the moment we profess faith in Christ as Lord, the process of purging the sin from our life is lifelong.
This process should also lead us to reflect on how our own sin has been shaped by and contributed to the brokenness of our culture. As people devoted to the Kingdom of God and immersed in His Word, Christians are often uniquely attuned to notice and condemn the evil and brokenness in the world around us.
But we’re not innocent bystanders. Our guilt is ever before us (Psalm 51), and it’s only by the grace of God that we have been made clean.
As we pray for God to protect Ohio from a dangerous and deadly abortion constitutional amendment, it’s important we step back and reflect on why it’s even a risk that our state would pass an amendment to legalize the taking of unborn life up until birth.
Take time this week to first and foremost meditate on the goodness of the Lord, His perfect commandments, and the mercy poured out on us sinners through Christ’s death and resurrection. In the piercing light of God’s holiness, pray for God to reveal the sin in your own life that may contribute to the sin in our culture.
Maybe you’ve not participated in abortion, or maybe you don’t struggle with sexual sin, but as we rise to oppose this ballot issue, we should pursue being holy and pure vessels for the Holy Spirit to move mightily through us to save lives in our state and nation.
Because of Christ’s life, death, resurrection, and ascension, this week, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). Pray for the Holy Spirit’s help to set your iniquities before God and reveal any secret sins in the light of His presence (Psalm 90:8)
Because of Christ’s life, death, resurrection, and ascension, this week, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). Pray for the Holy Spirit’s help to set your iniquities before God and reveal any secret sins in the light of His presence (Psalm 90:8)
James 4:4-8 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Psalm 38:18 I confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin.
Isaiah 44:22 I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.
Proverbs 28:9 If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.
2 Corinthians 7:10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
Matthew 5:44–45 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.
Ezekiel 18:21–23 But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him; for the righteousness that he has done he shall live. Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?
