Title: Grace, Gratitude, Love (1 Tim. 01:12-15)
Content Happiness cannot come without a grateful heart. Modern people are materially more prosperous than before, but mentally dry. You should be overflowing with gratitude, but this kind of heart doesn't happen automatically. When it comes to what kind of person has a heart of gratitude, only those who have realized grace, those who have experienced grace, and those who have a humble heart can be grateful and receive such a person's thanks when offered as a fragrant sacrifice before God. become a beautiful priest.
First, gratitude for the office (12).
To be zealous outside of Jesus is a very frightening thing. If you look at history, zeal without God has brought tragedy and darkness to many people, but after meeting Jesus, they were changed into a person of gratitude. Above all, Paul should be grateful and faithful for the apostleship he received.
Second, gratitude for change (2).
It is through the work of God that man is transformed. People cannot change people, and they cannot change themselves. The Apostle Paul confessed his gratitude for the changes he had made before and after he believed in Jesus. He thinks that his great change is due to God's mercy and merciful grace. Man is by nature a child of wrath and has been associated with sin from birth. But now he has been changed into a righteous man by God and has become a child of God.
Third, gratitude for grace (14).
The text shows how important grace is in the life of faith. Grace is a very vertical gift from God. Each person is individually blessed. He not only forgave the past, but also gave him a calling to hear and do God's work. Faith in Jesus is the fact that Paul's encounter with Jesus at Damascus was a turning point in his life. Paul confesses that this is the grace he received from God. I must overflow with gratitude for the grace I received from the Lord and show it as love for my neighbor.