Today’s Our Daily Bread Bible Verses
1 Timothy 1:12-20King James Version (KJV)
12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry;
13 Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
14 And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
15 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.
16 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.
17 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
18 This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;
19 Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:
20 Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.
I can identify with Paul in as much as I consider myself a huge sinner but have received God’s mercy and much of what I did was not so much out of unbelief but definitely out of ignorance. I knew God existed because I had had some experiences in my youth that had no other possible explanation. The nature of God is what I didn’t know. When I look back on my life and see how often God was involved in the minutest details even though at the time I was completely unaware, I am amazed that the creator of such a vast and magnificent universe can lovingly care for each individual.
I know sometimes it doesn’t seem that way. When I was first taken into Shelton, the Washington State Prison intake facility, they put me in a room maybe 6 feet square that was concrete floors, walls, and no heat, it was about 45ºF, I could clearly see my breath. They made me strip naked and left me there for about 45 minutes. I shivered violently, eventually laid down on the floor and curled up in a fetal position and remained that way until they finally threw in an orange pumpkin suit and said put this on. During this time I honestly thought it likely that I was going to die right then and there. At the time it was easy to blame God, even though I know now only myself and perhaps other somewhat sadistic prison personnel were to blame.
When I was in solitary confinement, God made it clear to me I was to blame for the suffering I had caused. And now, with this experience behind me, I see this pattern repeated all around me, people blaming God for suffering man is solely responsible for. Only be accepting responsibility can we end this suffering. As long as we assign blame to something outside of our control, we can’t possibly make any positive changes, but once we accept responsibility, we are empowered with the ability to make positive changes.