John Newton, former slave trader marvelously saved by the grace of God, served for many years as a pastor. Near the end of his life he wrote an assessment of himself that may sound harsh, but I know we can all relate to it.
I am not what I ought to be – ah, how imperfect and deficient! I am not what I wish to be – I abhor what is evil, and I would cleave to what is good! I am not what I hope to be – soon, soon I shall put off mortality, and with mortality all sin and imperfection. Yet, though I am not what I ought to be, I can truly say, I am not what I once was; a slave to sin and Satan; and I can heartily join with the apostle, and acknowledge, “By the grace of God I am what I am.”
We are not what we ought to be, but we are not what we once were. Praise God!
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