The one thing that is humbling for all the saints, is that we did not deserve the blessings
of the Lord. Everything that we received was done out of the love God has for us. This
is the reason none of us can act as though we deserve what we received from God.
Why? Because prior to accepting Jesus Christ into our lives, we were all sinners. One
of the people in the Bible that fully understood this is Paul. In 1 Timothy 1:12-17, Paul
talks about not deserving the blessings from the Lord. He starts off by saying in verse
12, “I’m grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who strengthened me”. Paul wants Timothy to
know that he appreciates the kindness the Lord has shown him. Prior to becoming a
servant of the Lord, he was living his life as an adversary doing all he could to attempt
to destroy the believers. He thought these individuals were living in a way that was
contrary to the will of God. However, he came to find out that he was the one living
outside the will of God.

Paul realized that he had received mercy from the Lord, despite his prior actions.
Through him embracing the Lord’s mercy, faith and love were overflowed in his life. Paul
is sharing this with Timothy, to let him know you are not deserving. However, when you
embrace the Lord’s mercy, He will overflow your life with faith and love. We must come
to the Lord by stepping out on faith, knowing He loves us. Once we make this decision,
then the Lord will grow us. Also, the Lord wants to bless us but can we stand to be
blessed? Yes, we all have a pass, but are we willing to embrace the future we can have
with the Lord?

This is why Paul made this statement in verse 15, “the saying is sure and worthy of full
acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of who I am the
foremost.” Paul consider his life choices to be terrible before accepting Jesus Christ,
and they were. Jesus came for people like Paul, to let them know life changes are
possible. These changes can only take effect when we accept we are sinners, and
Jesus is the One that can change our lives. The beauty in what the Lord will do in our
lives will allow others to see the change happen in us before their very eyes. This is to
signal to them that change is also possible for them.

During this pandemic, we need to have a firm foundation and we are thankful that we do.
We also have to make it our business to alert others they can have this same
foundation. They may think they are not deserving and they are right because we
didn’t deserve it either. It’s through God’s grace and mercy we have all been presented
with this opportunity to change our direction in life. Continue to walk in your blessings.