A Display of Grace

Why is it that we are so often amazed by a testimony of an unlikely convert? If you've been a Christian for any length of time you have likely heard someone share their story of how they came to Jesus, and it's likely that you've heard that story from people who were at one time the last ones on earth you would think would fall in love with Jesus. The former drug dealer, the motor cycle gang member, or the atheist bent on proving Christianity wrong have all been recipients of this grace at one time or another. Why is it that we are amazed?

I believe 1 Timothy 1:16-17 gives us insight into God's plan in these stories. The verses state:

But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

In this passage, Paul comments on the reason God saved him. It wasn't because of Paul's good credentials. It wasn't because Paul was such a gifted and educated person or that he would be mightily used to write significant portions of Scripture. Paul says it was because he was the worst. Why? Why would God choose Paul--a persecutor of Christians? It is because saving the unlikely, the worst of sinners, brings God more glory. For Paul, he humbly acknowledged that he was the chief of sinners, and that the only reason God chose to save him was so that Jesus could display his patience with those who believe. Basically, Paul was saying, "If Jesus could save me, there is no one beyond his reach."

Why would God do this? Why would God delight in making Paul into this example? Because it brings him glory. Verse 17 is not an extension of Paul's argument here. It's Paul bursting out into praise! Paul thinks of the immeasurable grace that was poured out on him as an example of the depths of God's grace and it causes him to glorify and praise God.

I believe this is why God loves to save the unlikely convert who no one would guess they would ever trust Christ. He loves to glorify himself. It brings God more glory, and it is clearly demonstrated for all to see, when Jesus calls someone to himself who had previously been running the other way.

This fact should also give us the practical benefit in our evangelism to share with those who would seem unlikely to become Christians. God delights in arresting sinners by his grace. He gains glory when rebels put down their arms and submit to his Lordship.

One final thought. I would be in error if I left this observation here. I have to admit that there isn't one of us who is a "likely" convert. The Bible teaches that we are all born in sin, and that we are spiritually dead before we come to Christ. So, the child who grows up in a Christian home hearing the Gospel week in and week out is no less spiritually dead than the crack head in the inner city. It is no less glorious of an act of God's sovereign grace when he saved me at 6 years old, than for him to save a hedonistic college party animal. God saves to the praise of his glory.