“All saints have a past and all sinners have a future.” 

                            Anton Chekhov 

This past Sunday night (April 25^th) famous actor, Tyler Perry, won the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. Perry is the modern epitome of the American dream. Born and raised in poverty and abuse, he took personal responsibility for his life. Characterized by strength, faith, and determination he’s a true American success story. It wasn’t always the case though, as he alluded to in his acceptance speech. Here’s what he said: 

  “You know, when I set out to help someone it is my intention to do just that. I'm not trying to do anything other than meet somebody at their humanity. Like, case in point this one time I remember maybe it was 17 years ago and I rented this building and we were using it for production and I was walking to my car one day and I see this woman coming up out of the corner of my eye and I say she's homeless let me give her some money…Anyway I reach in my pocket and I'm about to give her the money and she says: ‘Excuse me sir do you have any shoes?’ 

  “It stopped me cold because I remember being homeless and having one pair of shoes and they were bent over at the heel. So I took her into the studio. She was hesitant to go in but we went in. We go to wardrobe and there were all these boxes and everything around the walls and fabrics and racks of clothes so we ended up having to stand in the middle of the floor. 

  “So as we're standing there [in] wardrobe and we find her these shoes and I help her put them on and I'm waiting for her to look up and all this time she’s looking down. She finally looks up and she's got tears in her eyes. She says: ‘Thank you Jesus. My feet are off the ground.’ 

  “In that moment I recall her saying to me ‘I thought you would hate me for asking’ but how could I hate you when I used to be you?” 

  I used to be you. Every born-again believer could say those same words about themselves and every person they meet who hasn’t met our Savior. 

  It’s a blessing to come to Christ as a child and not drink from the dregs of sin, there is also a blessing from meeting Jesus later in life. Though we’re all born sinners and all need to be rescued, when one comes to Christ as an adult, the horrible pit Jesus rescued you from is often a little more real. 

  Though we’re born-again early or late in life, it’s the same filthy pit. We’re just not as aware of it. As much as we like to think we’re nice, moral people – we’re not. None of us. If you don’t believe that toddlers have a sinful nature put two or three of them together and give them only one toy. 

   Romans 3 describes us: “None is righteous, no, not one…no one does good, not even one…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” 

  Adam and Eve weren’t kicked out of the Garden because they were child molesters or serial killers. They lost Paradise because they disobeyed God on one point – eating the forbidden fruit. Immediately, they were guilty of disobeying God and were doomed. Too often we forget that spiritually, we are like that woman Tyler Perry gave a pair of shoes. I used to be you. 

  We were spiritually blind. “Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:4). This explains how someone can read the Bible and miss the message of sin and forgiveness. It’s how they can live as if this life is all there is. It’s how they can hold a worldview disastrous to themselves and society. They’re spiritually blind. I used to be you. 

  We were spiritually dead. One of today’s more popular shows is The Walking Dead. Ephesians 2:1 tells us that prior to coming to Christ and salvation, we were spiritually dead, “Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins.” God, heaven, a biblical worldview, personal responsibility makes no sense, any more than the living world makes sense to a corpse. I used to be you. 

  We were poor. We measure success and riches by our houses, cars, jobs , and bank accounts yet fail to realize that you can have the whole world but be impoverished. Revelation 3:17 speaks to this and a group who believed that they had the world by the tail. “You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” I used to be you. 

  We were homeless. No one in and of themselves is on their way to Heaven. It’s God’s Home, a place of absolute perfection and we’re not. None of us would let just anyone into our homes. If someone knocked on my door that I didn’t want in my home who didn’t meet my standards, I wouldn’t let them in. Neither does God. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). If you don’t commit your life to Christ as your personal Savior, you're homeless. That was me and you before Jesus rescued us. I used to be you. 

  Like that poor homeless woman that Tyler Perry showed grace and mercy to, God did that for us. We didn’t find Him, in love, God found us! Though a big mess, to God, we’re a priceless treasure!

  In 1905 there was a baseball game between the Rhyolites and Beattys in Salt Lake City. The batter stepped up to the plate and hit a ground ball toward 1^st base. But it struck a small rock and shot off at an angle. Fortunately, the 1^st baseman (William Giffiths) easily fielded the ball and beat the runner to first. Not wanting the rock to affect the game again he went over and picked it up meaning to throw it off the field. Yet, when he took a closer look at it, he put it in his pocket. Later that night he returned to the ballpark with a lantern and spent an hour picking up most of the rocks on the field and putting them in a bucket. The next day, he took the bucket to the assay office (a lab that tests metals). They told him that he’d found what he thought he had – GOLD! So he called two friends and they quietly bought the ballpark and became very wealthy men. The name of the mine they dug? First Base Mine. That story is similar to one of Jesus’ parables. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field” (Matt. 13:44). 

  But we’re the buried treasure and what God “sold” was His own Son, Jesus on the cross for our sins so we could have our spiritual eyes opened, be alive, have riches out of this world and a Home. We don’t have to be an “I used to be you.” Jesus died so we could be forgiven and have a brand new life. But we must trust Him? We must accept His plan of salvation.

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address.