Sometimes I look in the mirror and wonder who is this! I mean one day I do everything I can to live the life God has called me to live. I serve others and love others and look out for others. But the next moment it seems as if all I care about is myself. I focus on my needs, my wants, my hurts, my fears. Sometimes I live like God is the only thing that matters and sometimes I live as if I am my own god. 

If we look at this paradox using the lenses of the Bible, we can see that some days we’re more like sinners and others we’re more like saints. No matter how hard we try, we’ll never get it all together. No matter how hard we try, we’ll never do everything perfect. But that doesn’t mean we stop trying. This week we look at a song that meets us right at the crossroads of where sinner and saint meet. One of the most amazing parts of our belief as Lutheran Christians is that we are both sinner and saint at the same time.

It’s a wonderful reality that we do things wrong. We sin. We fail to do the right thing at the right time. We all too often do the exact opposite of what we know we should do. Very frequently we will live as if we’re more lost than found. But the reality of the matter is quite simple. While we were trapped in our own sins and wrongs, something happened. Something amazing and marvelous happened! The realization that we are both sinner and saint tell us that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. It’s the reminder that even in our darkest days of stupid choices and failed attempts at life God reached into our reality and saved us.

So you’re not just a sinner stuck on the treadmill of wrong choices, you’re a saint purchased and won by the amazing life-giving blood of Jesus. And what’s cool – it has nothing to do with you and how good (or not) you are! He did it because he loves you. He did it because when He sees you he sees someone he loves dearly – he sees his child.

This means that even in your worst moments in life God never left you. He’s always been with you. He’s always been for you even when you weren’t for him. That’s the God we serve. Today I pray you live with the realization that you are loved by a God who is always here with and for you! There’s never been a moment when he didn’t love you – and quite frankly there never will be either!