Christ Came for a Man Like Me

The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. (Zephaniah 3:17)

Who else rejoices or finds joy in our faith? God does. Christ tells us as much in the parable of the Lost Sheep. You remember that one?

[Jesus said:] "Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

3So he told them this parable: 4“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance" (Luke 15:1-7)

God the Father sent his Son to fish for men. Fishing requires knowing the spots where fish are, which often are not easy to find. When Christ and his disciples do just that, they go where the fish are, and as they cast their nets, the pharisees are there to condemn the catch. Christ tells them the story of the Lost Sheep as a response to their condemnation of "hanging with sinners."

Christ came to save people like me, a man with few redeeming qualities (in God's eyes especially). A sinner whose family before me sinned. Men who owned slaves in the south during the time of slavery on my mom's side. Men who may have made a child with a slave. Men who did time. Men from the same family who fought for both sides of a Civil War. One did time in Huntsville for something I've yet to learn (Huntsville is a city with a large prison in it in Texas). Men who formed the early Texas Rangers to hunt Native Americans and remove them from the land. Unscrupulous. Fighters. Murderers. Yet Christ came for a man like me. I haven't even confessed my own sins. Yet, through this Amazing Grace I find joy. I rejoice over the redemption through faith in Christ. I find more than comfort in his promise. I find joy.

Pray with me: Gracious Father, I rejoice in the joy you give me in the promise of eternal life with you through faith in your Son. In his name, Amen.