"Conjunction junction, what's your function?"

In a recent post, I referenced a quote from John Newton (the writer of Amazing Grace).  Here's the extended version from this slave trader turned author and Biblical teacher: "Although my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly:  I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior."  Now, I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that the most important word in this famous quote is the word "and."  Here's why. While riding my bike recently I was pondering the meaning of this quote.  And as I turned it over and over in my mind, my tendency was to revel in the second half of the quote; in the fact that Jesus Christ is an amazing Savior...and that he's MY Savior.  And trust me, this IS a good thing to revel in.  The magnificence of what Christ did on the cross for you and I must be rehearsed every day.  It should be memorized, studied, reviewed and narrated.  It should be preached, practiced and proclaimed from the mountain tops.  But as I did many of these "verbs" while on my bike, I kept coming back to the word "and."  I kept wanting to replace the word "and" with the word "but" but, as I continued to reflect, I began to see that this significantly changed the meaning of the quote. In changing the conjunction, I was taking the emphasis off my self - off of my sin - and keeping the emphasis on Christ.  And while Christ is a good emphasis (obviously), the fact of the matter is that Christ HAS to be a great Savior BECAUSE I'm a great sinner.  And in humbly acknowledging that fact, I fall even more in love with my Savior!

Yes, one of the marks of a grown-up christian is the fact that he sees his sin with more clarity and accuracy than ever before.  He sees the frequency of his disobediences because he's becoming more and more humble.  And he's becoming more and more humble because he sees the frequency of his disobediences.  Get it?  And where does this humility send him?  Back to the foot of the cross where he's bathed in mercy and loved unconditionally.

What a concept, huh?  Beware of the tendency all us humans have to take the focus off our sinfulness.  Our sin runs deep, its weighty and it's what sent Christ to the cross.