READ: ROMANS 5:1-11; EPHESIANS 2:1-10; TITUS 2:11-14

God’s ability to rescue and transform is incredible. “I once was lost, but now am found,” wrote John Newton in his famous hymn “Amazing Grace,” and these striking words weren’t simply for dramatic effect. Newton had experienced God’s grace—His undeserved kindness— firsthand, and his story is a beautiful example of God’s power.

Newton was born in England in 1725. His mother was a Christian, but after her death, he spent much time at sea with his father and abandoned his mother’s godly teachings. Eventually, he joined the crew of a slave ship, where he embraced a rough lifestyle.

However, God was still pursuing Newton. One day, a storm arose at sea, and Newton was terrified. Realizing he was a sinner unworthy of help, he nevertheless cried to God for mercy, and he was spared. That very day, he turned back to God.

That wasn’t the end of God’s grace in Newton’s life, though. When he was twenty-nine, illness forced him back to land, where he sought God earnestly and threw himself into ministry. He was soon ordained as a minister and then started writing hymns. Later, he felt called to pastor a church in London, and many people came to hear him preach about the grace that had saved him. As he grew spiritually, he also repented of his part in the British slave trade and began to oppose it passionately.

All his life, Newton remained awed by God’s love and kindness toward him— that God would not only rescue a poor sinner, but would continue working in and through him to reach many people. Newton’s story shows that because of Jesus’s death and resurrection, no one is too far gone. God can save and change anyone. Like Newton, we are all sinners unworthy of rescue. And God offers us the same amazing grace that transformed John Newton’s life. • Faith Lewis

• History is full of stories of sinners who God saved, just like John Newton, just like us. Jesus lived, died, and rose again to make the way for anyone to come to Him. No one is beyond His reach. And salvation is only the beginning of God’s grace—after we place our trust in Jesus, He continues to transform and work through us for the rest of our lives. We still struggle with sin, but when we rely on God’s grace instead of our own efforts, He can do great things in and through us. How have you seen God’s grace at work in your life? What about the lives of others?

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans 3:23-24 (NIV)