Verses from 1 Timothy

“我感谢那给我力量的我们主基督耶稣，因他以我有忠心，派我服事他。我从前是亵渎上帝的，逼迫人的，侮慢人的；然而我还蒙了怜悯，因我是不信不明白的时候而做的。”

提摩太前书 1:12-13 

“I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief;”

1 Timothy 1:12-13 

The apostle Paul accepted his new life in Christ, refusing to deny his past or let it stop him from serving the Lord (1 Timothy 1:12­–14). Because Paul knew Jesus’s work on the cross saved and changed him—the worst of sinners—he praised God and encouraged others to honor and obey Him (vv. 15–17).

When we accept God’s grace and forgiveness, we’re freed from our past. Flawed but fiercely loved, we have no reason to be ashamed of our real faces as we serve others with our God-given gifts.

Lord, 

thanks for eliminating our shame and insecurities as You use us to serve You, no matter what our life looked like before You saved us.

God accepts us as we are, and changes us as we serve Him in love.