Give me a word, Lord: HE KNEW ME BEFORE

Galatians 1:15 But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace. Then it pleased him.

Do you ever sit back and ponder in amazement how merciful and loving our God truly is? We are not great people. I’m sorry to share this little tidbit of information, but it is the truth. We are not great. Most of us aren’t even very good. The reality is that it isn’t who we are, but Whose we are. Because we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and invited Him to be the Lord of our lives, we have been made right. Yet we can’t take one ounce of credit for our righteousness. Nope! God took care of that really big detail when His Son took on the cross for our sins.

Now, picture this. While on that cross in agony, Jesus saw you. He saw me. He saw all of the sin that we were ever going to commit. He saw who we were before we accepted Him, and still He took on the cross for us. He knew us before, yet He loved us still! That is not only amazing.It is astonishing that Christ could love us that much!

The thing that we must try to comprehend is that Christ sees who we are before He calls us. He knows the good, bad, and ugly details of our lives. He sees the sin. He knows the sinner, BUT He also sees who we can become after we become His. He sees past the person we were before salvation, and He calls us to be His children. He knows that His love will change us and make us right even though we have been so very wrong.

There are so many biblical examples of not so great people in the Bible. Scripture tells of many “before people” who were radically changed by Christ after knowing Him. Jesus took a fisherman and made him one of the greatest preachers of the early church. An untrusted taxman became a disciple, a trusted friend of Jesus, and he penned the first Gospel of the New Testament. An insignificant woman, who had been possessed by demons, followed Christ to the end. She was at the cross, and she was the first person Jesus appeared to after His resurrection. He knew who they were before. He saw the broken mess in their lives, but He also saw the after.

Christ saw something in these individuals. He saw the before image of some truly broken individuals…BUT God! Praise God. He sees through the broken pieces, and He can see the image of each and every one of us fully restored through a loving relationship with Jesus Christ. He takes all of our broken pieces and makes us whole again. Yes, He knew me before too. I’m so thankful He didn’t merely see the before image of me and hang His hat up and write me off. I am eternally grateful for His love, grace, and mercy. Jesus continues to take the broken pieces and heal my heart as I become more fully His each day! Praise God for loving me before!