1 Timothy 1:12-16
And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.

We are part of this pattern, begun in Paul. He counted himself the chiefest of sinners. He had heard of Jesus. He’d heard the preaching about Christ and His resurrection, and he had rejected it as blasphemy. He’d persecuted Christians, trying to eliminate them and their message. But God was gracious to Paul, and He was patient. He did not cast Paul off at his first sin. He did not immediately bring judgment into Paul’s life, but He worked in his heart and gave him an opportunity to repent, time to change his mind and come to faith and understanding of the truth.

There is hope for all of us, then. There is this same mercy available for us and whatever our specific sins are. There is longsuffering for those who have heard of Christ and at first rejected Him and refused to believe. There are opportunities to repent given to us by God out of His abundant grace. We may have sinned and sinned greatly, but there is still forgiveness if we’ll turn to Christ and seek it from Him.

Somehow the story of grace never gets old. God sees us here in our sinfulness and chooses to be patient, to have compassion, to seek again and again the lost sheep so that they may be found. He reveals Himself to us. He gives us opportunities to repent. He pursues our hearts with His relentless love. May this pattern begun in Paul continually repeat until the Lord’s return, where the chiefest of sinners collide with God’s grace and come out clean on the other side, fit to become now the chiefest of servants for their Lord and Savior.