Something was missing
Bill and Gloria Gaither are prolific Christian songwriters. They have blessed our lives for many years through their songs and their singing.
One of my favorite songs speaks of my life, and perhaps your life. I will write the words to the song in bold followed by experiences from my own life. The song is entitled, “A Sinner Saved by Grace”.
“If you could see what I once was – If you could go with me back to where I started from. Then I know you would see a miracle of love that took me in its sweet embrace and made me what I am today – just an old sinner saved by grace.”
I cannot forget that Sunday evening service in 1965. I was 27 years old, ready to take on the world. I was raised to respect my elders, to be honest, to work very hard, to gain riches from that hard work, and enjoy the benefits of that life. I thought I had a plan for my life.
But I had left something extremely important out, something that was not taught to me. What could be more important than what I was raised to know? I was about to find out what was missing in my life, but it took a near disaster for me to discover what that was. All my great plans crashed down around me, for I was about to lose my family. I had placed more importance on getting ahead than on my family. I was about to lose my wife and children to divorce.
I was invited to attend a church in Oxnard, California, and it was there that I began to hear about the one who hung on a cross, bleeding and in pain, when it should have been me on that cross. I only knew Him as one we celebrated at Christmas, and not someone who died in my place because He loved ME! On that Sunday evening, I went to the front of that church, and I asked Jesus to forgive me my sins, come into my life and make me what He wanted, a sinner saved by grace.
“How could I boast of anything I’ve ever seen or done? How could I dare to claim as mine the victories God has won? Where would I be had God not brought me gently to this place? I’m here to say I’m nothing but a sinner saved by grace.”
Jesus did a miracle in my life. He put my marriage back together, filled me with love for three wonderful children, and now blessed me with six grandchildren. He has spent many years helping me learn to follow Him and serve Him. I cannot boast about helping found two great ministries and all the lives that were saved. It was not me; it was God working through me. He is the one who gives us victory upon victory. He leads, I follow.
The chorus sums it all up. “I’m just a sinner saved by grace. When I stood condemned to death – He took my place. Now I live and breathe in freedom with each breath of life I take – loved and forgiven – back with the living. I’m just a sinner saved by grace.”
We cannot bypass Jesus,
