Titus 3:3 At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.

Paul certainly knew how to give a pithy description! He didn’t pull any punches, and he included himself in what he was describing. If we fail to realize how bad off we are without Christ, we are far less likely to turn to Him, and once saved, if we fail to realize how bad off we were without Him, we won’t have a full appreciation of His grace. Reading this verse just now, whole categories of people just came to mind. The difficulty with that is that it could lead to my being dismissive of people in those categories, and Jesus loves them just as much as He loves me – and that’s a lot! I am not to write anyone off, but realize that God’s grace is as essential to me as it is to them; the only difference is that I’ve accepted it. Such people can’t imagine life any other way, and so they think Christians are total hypocrites, and that under the surface Christians are just the same as they are. They are right in that we have the same human nature, but they are wrong in that once you are born again by faith in Jesus Christ, you are indeed a new creation, as Paul so famously said in 2 Corinthians 5:17. When I was in seminary I had a bumper sticker that said, “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven.” That’s the way it is, and we must not forget it.

This is, of course, as true today as it was back when I was in seminary. Now, people tend to put me on a pedestal, thinking they can’t achieve what they see me as being, or despising me because I don’t measure up to what they think I should be. That’s a problem! I am as human as they are, and the same grace that has been poured out on me is available to them. If I am to be effective in communicating the Gospel I must genuinely be humble at all times, not thinking I’m better than others but letting God love them through me. That’s not always easy, because we are all too often unlovable! I need to remember Paul’s words in Ephesians 4:32: “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

Father, thank You for this reminder. I find I am most prone to despise people at a distance, but despising isn’t good any way I look at it. Help me be an effective instrument of Your grace, at a distance through prayer or close up in every interaction, so that as many as possible may be brought from death to life, from darkness to light, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!