The movie “Catch Me If You Can” tells the story of Frank Abagnale, one of the most notorious criminals and “con men” in the United States. He was able to successfully pose as a Pan Am pilot; as a doctor in the state of Georgia and as a prosecutor for the state of Louisiana, and most of this before his 19th birthday. His primary crime, however, was committing check fraud and he became so good at it, that the FBI eventually used him to catch other check forgers.
He became a very valuable criminal.
The FBI, CIA and most government agencies turn to arrested criminals to help them catch the “bigger fish” and destroy their criminal organizations. Police departments avail themselves of “CIs” (Confidential Informants) in order to obtain information about criminal activities that they wouldn’t be able to gather otherwise.
The church of our Lord Jesus Christ is made up of valuable criminals. Our conversion to Christianity has transformed us from useless sinners into useful saints. Before coming to Christ for forgiveness and salvation, we were spiritually dead, deaf and blind. We were lost and wicked; we were God’s enemies and evil criminals on our way to hell.
And then a miracle of miracles happened. The Creator of the universe and Lord of all became a man like us and died on a cross to save a fallen, evil and depraved race. We… “despised and rejected” Christ… “And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.” (Isaiah 53:3)
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Roman 5:8).
That is the miracle of the love of God! The fact that He even loved us in the first place is already a great miracle, but divine love is more than beautiful and comforting words: The love of God acted on our behalf as Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins. The love of God is generous and giving
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
God has given us new life in Christ so that we can live it for Him.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8-10)
A. G.
