August 27th | 1 Timothy 1
Worship Begins With Gratitude
Paul begins his letter to Timothy with gratitude: “I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord” (v.12). After confronting false teachers and addressing the misuse of the law, Paul suddenly breaks into worship. Why? Because when he remembers who he was before Christ, he can’t help but overflow with thankfulness.
Paul describes his past in stark terms: blasphemer, persecutor, insolent opponent (v.13). He wasn’t a “good kid gone preacher.” He was, in his own words, the worst of sinners. He actively opposed Jesus and tried to destroy the church. Yet everything changed on the Damascus road when he met the risen Christ.
And what was it that saved him? Paul says it was grace—overflowing, abundant, unending grace. He writes, “The grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” (v.14). Romans 5:20 reminds us: “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”
Think about that. No matter how great our sin, God’s grace is greater still. Like the never-ending rush of Niagara Falls, there is always “more to follow.” Paul insists that if God could save him—the “chief of sinners”—then no one is beyond His reach.
But notice: Paul doesn’t speak of his sin in the past tense. He doesn’t say, “I was the worst.” He says, “I am the foremost” (v.15). That’s the humility of a heart that never forgets its desperate need for grace. True worship flows not from thinking God is lucky to have us, but from realizing how deeply we need Him every single day.
Perhaps your worship feels stale right now. Could it be because you’ve forgotten the grace by which you were saved? Worship starts when we remember who we were, who Christ is, and what He has done for us.
As C.S. Lewis illustrated through Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia: when Lucy saw Aslan again after time apart, she exclaimed, “You’re bigger!” Aslan replied, “That is because you are older, little one…every year you grow, you will find me bigger.” The more we grow in Christ, the bigger He becomes in our eyes—the more glorious His grace appears, and the deeper our worship flows.
Today, pause and thank God for His overflowing grace. Let gratitude stir your heart into worship. Never forget—you don’t outgrow your need for the cross. You grow into a greater awe of it.
