Changed lives

Do you believe the gospel of Jesus Christ has the power to save and change lives? I do! History provides overwhelming evidence of men and women whose lives were transformed by the mercy and grace of God.

Think about the apostle Paul. Before his encounter with the risen Savior, he hated Jesus, and he hated anyone who liked Jesus. By his own admission, he was the “chief of sinners,” but Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and Paul’s life was forever changed.

Then there’s Mary Magdalene, a woman with seven demons (Luke 8:2), and some say she was the ill-reputed “woman of the city, who was a sinner” (Luke 7:37). But she found freedom and forgiveness in Christ and became one of his most devoted followers.

No one is beyond the reach of God’s mercy.

John Newton was a slave trader, a drunk, an obscene and vile man. But Jesus came to his rescue, turned him from his sinful ways, and used him mightily to preach the gospel. Newton later wrote one of the most beloved hymns of all time, a song which detailed his own conversion, “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.”

Again I say, no one is beyond the reach of God’s mercy!

What if the madman who went hunting for humans in El Paso had heard and believed the gospel? The hatred in his heart would have been dissolved and 22 innocent people would still be alive today, because the gospel drives men to repent from sinful motives like racism and replaces it with reconciliation and brotherly love.

What if Jeffrey Epstein had heard and believed the gospel? His young female victims would have been spared from his depraved advances, because the gospel gives men freedom from sexual sin and does not exploit or abuse others for one’s own selfish and sinful desires.

Friend, I don’t know where your journey has taken you, what you’ve done, what you’ve said, or who you’ve hurt along the way. But I do know this: You are not beyond the reach of God’s mercy. God loves you, and He is patient with you, not wishing that any would perish, but that all should reach repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

Count me as one who’s life has been changed by the power of the gospel, as well. And yours can be, too. Turn away from sin today, believing that Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness for your sin and rose from the dead to give you new, abundant, and eternal life.