No one is beyond the reach of God’s mercy. I’ve met many people who whisper this question through tears: “Father, could God really forgive someone like me?” It’s a question born not out of rebellion, but out of deep sorrow and shame. And yet, the answer of the Gospel is astonishingly clear: no one is too sinful to be saved.
Jesus Himself said, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32). He did not come for perfect people—He came for the broken, the lost, and the weary. When we look at the stories in Scripture, we find that some of God’s greatest saints were once among the greatest sinners. Saint Paul persecuted Christians; Saint Peter denied the Lord; Saint Mary Magdalene carried a heavy past. Yet every one of them was transformed by grace.
The heart of the Christian faith is this: salvation is God’s gift, not our achievement. We can’t earn it by being “good enough,” and we can’t lose it by being “too bad.” The Cross of Christ reaches into the darkest corners of human sin, not to condemn, but to redeem. When Jesus stretched out His arms on Calvary, He embraced every soul — even those who believe they have fallen too far.
The only barrier to salvation is not the size of our sin, but the hardness of our heart. If we turn to God, even with trembling and tears, He runs toward us as the father ran to the prodigal son (Luke 15). God never tires of forgiving; it is we who tire of asking. But each confession, each whisper of “Lord, have mercy,” opens the door again to grace.
So if you ever feel unworthy of forgiveness, remember this: it is precisely the unworthy whom Christ came to save. Mercy is not a reward for the pure — it is the medicine for the wounded.
May you rest in this truth: no sin is greater than the Savior. When we bring our darkness to Him, His light is never overcome.
— Fr. John Matthew, for Christian Way
