“WHERE SIN ABOUNDED…..”
“Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” (Romans 5:20). Those words should be carved into the headstone above my grave or written on the bronze plaque if that is the marker used for my grave. I am a prime example of God’s grace toward sinful men and the epitome of what God can do in the life of a former rebel. My changed life is the absolute, unarguable proof of the existence of a Supreme Being who has a continuing vital interest in His human creation.
Those who knew and interacted with me in the early decades of my life would say of me today what was said of the blind man Jesus healed, who had been born blind. (See John 9). They would say, “Well, he looks like the guy we knew back then. His voice sounds the same, but who this man is whom we see today we do not know!” But “if ANY man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new” (See 2 Corinthians 5:17). A truly converted man or woman is a new personality, bearing little resemblance to the person they were prior to their conversion. They don’t just believe Jesus Christ died for them. They also walk in newness of life. (See Romans 6:4). Dead to sin, they become alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. (See Romans 6:11). Delivered from the power of darkness, they walk worthy of the Lord. (See Colossians 1:10, 13). They are not just believers. They are possessors of that life that is truly life. They are totally malleable clay in the hands of the Master Potter.
My future looks brighter with each passing day. Though in this body I groan and experience the vicissitudes of age, I look forward to that day when this mortal frame shall put on immortality and I shall step from here into eternity.
Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),
Donald Wiley