Part Saint and Part Scoundrel
Friday, December 20, 2024
“How we must adore the grace of God as we realize from the context that all of our folly and ignorance was foreknown by God, and notwithstanding that foreknowledge, He has still been pleased to deal with us in mercy! Ponder and admire the marvelous sovereign grace that could have chosen us in the sight of all this! Wonder at the price that was paid for us when Christ knew what we would be!" – C.H. Spurgeon
When I think of all the different times and all the different ways I have failed God over the past 50 years, my face turns ashen with shame. And if more people knew about all those instances, my cheeks would be as red as beets in embarrassment.
I suspect you could probably say the same thing about yourself. But guess what? We would be in excellent company.
After all, David – whom God called a man after My own heart – was a liar, an adulterer, a murderer, and a lousy father. Samson, who is included in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11, was a big-time womanizer. Noah got drunk, Moses got angry (and also killed an Egyptian construction foreman), and Abraham lied twice about his wife to save his own skin… putting her sexual purity at stake both times.
In fact, other than Joseph, Daniel, and a handful of other Bible characters, it is hard to find anyone who wasn’t part saint and part scoundrel. But by the grace of God, He still loved and used these extremely imperfect men for their benefit and His glory.
I don’t know about you, but that gives me hope that I am not beyond God’s reach and grants me assurance that He hasn’t given up on me… and He never will. My job is to keep seeking Him with all my heart (Jeremiah 29:13); and His job is to continue to conform me into the image of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6).
As Charles Spurgeon so eloquently said, “God uses people who fail, because there aren’t any other kind around.”
“Let the wicked man forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.” Isaiah 55:7 (BSB)
- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President
