Changing Grace

Politics is always interesting, but especially so in the year of a presidential election. It appears that a candidate’s staff descends on as many records they can find on their opponent to see if they can uncover any “dirt” on the opposing candidate. If they are able to uncover a juicy flaw from the past, the matter enters the campaign’s arsenal of sound bites. Or the matter is leaked to the media, who expose the issue that was uncovered. In a past election a presidential candidate’s college era was examined and he had to publicly confess, “When I was in England, I experimented with marijuana a time or two, and I didn't like it. I didn't inhale and never tried it again.” One presidential candidate’s alcohol consumption in middle-age came under scrutiny, and he and was forced to acknowledge, “I was drinking too much.” Then he revealed, “I quit drinking in 1986 and haven't had a drop since then.” Another candidate’s current church and pastor came under the scrutiny, and he was forced to release a statement about his pastor and his sermons confessing, “Our relations… have been strained by the divisive statements… which sharply conflict with our own views.”

Most recently political mud-rakers have felt the need to go back and explore a candidate’s high school conduct. They uncovered an incident in that person’s teenage years that the media concluded revealed an ethical flaw disqualifying them as a person to serve the nation. Now I know I will never make it as a candidate for the presidency of the USA! My high school years are nothing of which to be proud. Maybe that is why I have never chosen to go back to a high school reunion!

I do not know what the Apostle Paul’s high school record was like; but I do know that his adult record was less than sterling! In fact, by his own admission, he was a “chief of sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). Consider just a few testimonies about him to that reality: he was an accomplice to murder (Acts 7:58; 8:1); and he was a bully persecuting the church (Acts 8:3). He openly admitted before his fellow citizens that he “persecuted this Way (speaking of followers of Jesus) to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women” (Acts 22:4-5). Later he would stand before King Agrippa and confess the same conduct hiding nothing of his misdeeds (Acts 26:9-11). Paul was indeed a “chief of sinners.”

He was also a chief recipient of the love and grace of God. It is with interest that Paul, when speaking of his sinfulness, always broke into praise of God’s mercy and grace in dealing with him. God invaded his life on the road to Damascus (Acts 9), exposed his rebellion, and gloriously revealed Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. His response to that revelation was transformational. A man who detested and cared little for people who were followers of Christ became a man obsessed with their well-being. The persecutor became passionately connected to Christians saying, “There is daily pressure upon me of concern for the churches” (2 Corinthians 11:28). What a radical metamorphosis occurred in a man that transformed his attitude and character.

Paul indicated that such a change is possible in any person. He stated it this way in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” This is indeed good news. The author of what has often been called the nation’s hymn, “Amazing Grace,” knew all about the change an encounter with Jesus Christ could make. John Newton wrote, “Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found; was blind but now I see.” The change in his life was dramatic. He left the occupation as a slave trader to become a preacher of Christ declaring good news that could set captives of sin free. He joined forces with William Wilberforce, a member of the British Parliament, to lead a campaign to abolish the slave trade in the British Empire. His was changed and became an agent of change. This is what Christ can do in a life.

I thank God that He has changed my life too. My past is past; it is a matter of record in the lives I have impacted in less than positive ways. Now I am a new creation with a goal to live a new life for the glory of God. It will likely not be perfect. However, it will be much better than what I was without Christ in my life. Now I do not make excuses for my flawed character and sinful failures; I ask forgiveness. That’s a change! So maybe I would be disqualified to be a president. That is OK. I am qualified to be a child of God! What a change.