Mensa Otabil - Pattern of Salvation
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1 Timothy 1:16 However, for this reason, I obtain mercy, that in me first, Christ Jesus might show all longsuffering as a pattern for those who are going to believe in Him for everlasting life. Paul saw his salvation as a pattern that God was setting to show the patience He has toward sinners. Because if God could forgive such a persecutor of the Church as Paul, then God could forgive anybody.
Considering the attitude that the early Church had towards Paul, it’s obvious that they were not expecting him to be saved. Paul was a very vicious attacker of the Church; he wreaked havoc on the Church, and he was so intense against the Church that he sought permission from Jerusalem to pursue Christians outside of Jerusalem. So, how could God forgive such an enemy of the Church? If you ask yourself the question, how would the early Church have prayed concerning Paul? Probably the same way the Church today would pray concerning Paul or a person like that. We would pray for God’s judgment to visit the person, for fire and brimstone to come upon them.
Probably that’s what they were hoping for, because this guy was an enemy of the Church. Yet God, in His infinite mercy, instead of pouring fire and brimstone on Paul, poured mercy and compassion and drew him with cords of love unto salvation. The same God who was longsuffering toward Paul is still longsuffering toward sinners today. There are people that we would wish God would judge very harshly, that God would destroy because they probably blaspheme against the name of the Lord. They stand against the Church; they criticize the things of God, and they just hate Christians. Our prayer sometimes will be that God would judge them and deal very harshly with them.
Well, Paul said that his salvation was a pattern, and if it is a pattern, then the pattern continues: that the same God who had mercy on Paul still has mercy on people who are against Him. So just consider that maybe our mission as a Church should not be to pray for judgment against those who don’t like us; our mission should be that God will raise more Pauls from our midst. So look into your office, look around your office, and look at all those who blaspheme the name of the Lord, who hate God, who hate Christians, and who say some of the most painful and insulting things about the Church, about God, and about Christianity. Maybe your job is just to pray for them, that the pattern of Paul will be repeated in their lives.
You can look at your family, and there may be people like Paul whom God wants to save as well, to show His mercy and His longsuffering. What a testimony it would be for those people to come to know Jesus Christ! And what a testimony it was that Paul came to know Christ! What if Paul had died on the road to Damascus? Judgment had come, and he had died. We would not have had as much from him as we did when he got saved. People are worth more saved than judged and destroyed, and we must pray for the salvation of sinners.
So let’s pray. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, have mercy on all those who oppose Your people. Touch their hearts and draw them close to Yourself. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen and amen.»