The Perfect Model

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I Timothy 1:15-16

15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

16 However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.

When I was young, I received my first ever model airplane.  It was a F-4 Phantom and I was sure that I was going to make the best one ever.   The box had a picture on it that made the model look like it could fly AND fire those cool missiles.   I opened the box to find a million pieces and some instructions.   While the instructions told you what pieces to put together, they missed one crucial piece of information: How do you glue stuff together without gluing your fingers together??

It was a good thing that my Dad had done model railroading and modeling for years.  He showed me how to avoid using too much glue, how to use a toothpick for the small parts so that you didn’t over do it. I wondered how he knew all these things.  He just smiled and held his fingers up.  “I’ve glued mine together many times.”  He showed me the pattern.

In our lives as Christians, we know from Scripture (the instructions) that we are all sinners.  The problem sometimes is that we don’t know how God could possibly love such greedy, selfish, angry, bitter and jealous people like us.   Paul told Timothy that 1) he (Paul) was a sinner of the first degree and 2) Jesus had used all the things in his life to be an example of how to live our lives with the ultimate goal of Eternal life with Him.  That’s what is so awesome about our Lord.  He not only models things for us, but he places people in our lives to show us how to make it through this troubled life we live.  That’s what the longsuffering is all about.  Jesus is longsuffering when He looks at our sins.   Paul here says, look at the Mercy given to me, the worst of sinners, so that today we can have a model of what God’s mercy is all about.

Paul says, “Hey, even though you’re a sinner and don’t think God can love you, Just look at me! I’m a model of how Jesus loves even the worst of sinners and wants us to have eternal life through Him!”  That is good news.  In fact, that IS the good news of the Gospel.