Sinners Seeking God
Scripture Reading — Romans 7:14-25
“The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people.”
1 Samuel 13:14
Sin is inevitable. The Bible clearly explains that each of us has two different selves battling within us: the old and the new. The apostle Paul details his struggle with sin, and he even goes so far as to say, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me?” But then he goes on to say, “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
So the question is not whether we will sin, but how we will respond to it.
The Bible uses a lot of space to tell us the story of David, the shepherd boy who became a great king of God’s people Israel (1 Samuel 16 -1 Kings 2). For all his greatness, King David was clearly a sinner. Yet the Bible’s summary of David’s life portrays him as “a man after [God’s] own heart.” If David was a sinner, then he must have somehow become a sinner after God’s own heart.
But what would that look like?
That’s the kind of question that can lead us further into the mystery of Christ’s redemption than we might ever wander on our own. So let’s look together into the life of this sinner named David.
Let’s seek to follow David’s example to become “better sinners”—humbled, forgiven, and growing in grace—“better sinners” after God’s own heart.
Forgiving God, please walk alongside us as we struggle with our sinful nature. Forgive us, as you forgave David, and shape us to be more like you. Amen.
About the author — Ron Vanderwell
Ron Vanderwell recently became the senior pastor of New Life Church in New Lenox, Illinois. He has been a pastor for 22 years, serving as a church planter for the previous 12 years at The Gathering in Sacramento, California, and before that as a pastor in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Ron and his wife, Deb, have three sons: John, Adam, and Jake.
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