I thank Him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because He judged me faithful, appointing me to His service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 1:12-14

stacked paper: Serenity by Manu Designs

You might enjoy reading my devotional, "Beautiful." You can view and/or download it in magazine style pdf (48 mb) here, or text w/highlighting format pdf (.5 mb) here. All of my other devotionals are also freely available in pdf format if you click on the link at the top of the right column.
context:

I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. 1 Timothy 1:12-17

I feel that it's necessary to mention here that Paul acted ignorantly in unbelief not because he didn't believe in God at all or because he was immersed in and enslaved to sinful behaviors forbidden by God (such as sexual immorality, stealing, etc.), but because he thought he was doing God a great service to persecute followers of Jesus. He was being zealous for God, but in the wrong way. (Acts 9:1-2, 26:9-11, 7:59-60, 8:1)

I have heard people use the passage above to suggest that Paul's being the "chief of sinners" means he continued to be so as the apostle to the Gentiles. That is simply not true. It is true that we're not perfect, but no one should get the impression from the New Testament that believers are allowed to use their freedom in Christ as a license to sin. (Gal. 5:13, Rom. 6, 1Pet. 2:16, Jam. 2:12, 1:25, 2Cor. 12:20, 21)

Walking in the Spirit is the same as being led by the Spirit. (Rom. 8:13-14, 1John 3:1, 9, 23-24, 4:13, 1Pet. 1:14-19, Rom. 16:19) When He is present in a person, the Holy Spirit's fruits are good - not in name only, but visibly so (just like we can see the effects of the wind - John 3:3-8). (Gal. 5:16-25) Jesus said we could recognize a good or bad tree by its fruits, so that means we can see by their behavior what sort of things are hidden inside of them (good or bad - they work their way out). (Matt. 12:33, Luke 6:43-49, Mark 7:21-23)

This is why we shouldn't grieve and quench the Holy Spirit - so that we don't indulge our old sinful flesh instead of the new creation. (Gal. 6:15, 2Cor. 5:17, Col. 3:9-10, Eph. 4:22-24, Heb. 3:12-14, 1Pet. 2:11) When we're led by our old flesh, we rebel against the Spirit, who is helping us exercise self-control and go in the right way (leading us). (Eph. 4:30, 1Thess. 5:19, 1Cor. 9:24-10:7, 10:8-10, 11-12, 13, 6:12, 13, 2Pet. 1:5-12) He is called our Helper for good reason. (John 14:16-24, 26, 15:26, 16:7) The commands and words of Jesus that we keep because we love Him are to LOVE God first and our neighbor as ourselves. (Gal. 5:14-15, Rom. 13:8-10, 11-14, Jam. 2:8, Matt. 22:37-38, 39-40, 1John 4:19, 21, 5:3, 2Cor. 5:14-15)

"Doing harm to a neighbor" includes BOTH sinning against them AND encouraging them to sin by sinning with them or by approving of their sin. (Rom. 1:32, Matt. 5:12-13) We Gentile (non-Jew) believers are STILL prohibited from sexual immorality even though the heavy yoke of the law has been lifted from us. (Acts 21:25, 15:10, 1Cor. 6:18-20, 1Thess. 4:3-5, 6-8, Gal. 5:1, 2:4-5, Matt. 11:28-30) We bear good fruit for God, by the power of His Spirit in us. (Rom. 7:4, 5-6, Matt. 5:16, 13:23, Rom. 8:9, Titus 2:11-3:8, John 15:1-10, Jam. 1:12, Matt. 25:1-13)