March 14

“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” 1 Timothy 1:15

This Paul, who fought the good fight, finished his course, and kept the faith, called himself the chief of sinners. The words “I am” are in the present tense. This reveals his own unchanging appraisal of himself. He had nothing to boast of. Like all the other sinners to whom he testified, he depended entirely on the grace of God.

More than that! He considered himself worse than the rest, feeling that he was in greater need of God’s grace than anybody else. We may rightly consider him as a man who surpassed all others in having received light from the Lord. Possibly this very fact made him judge himself the more severely. It is the one who lacks divine illumination of himself who imagines he is advancing in holiness. He who has glimpsed the blaze of God’s light has seen himself, too, as he really is.