For several years I’ve worked in a ministry to drug addicts, and I’ve seen Christ transform many who had lost hope. Yet in response to a newspaper article about our work, I received a letter from someone who said, “You are wasting your time working with worthless drug addicts. They should be given a lethal injection and tossed on the city dump.”

How heartless! These people need a massive dose of good news. They (and also that letter writer) need to hear that God doesn’t cast us sinners off on some trash heap. On the contrary, He loved this world so much that He sent His only Son to die for our sins. And whoever puts his faith in Him will not perish, but will be given eternal life (Jn. 3:16).

Some people visit dumps, searching for objects to redeem and restore. According to Psalm 113, God looks compassionately on human castaways. He seeks ways to lift them out of the ash heaps of sin and death, and to give them a place of honor and dignity (vv.7-8).

If that is God’s response to this world’s castaways, we should make it ours. We too were lost in the depths of sin but were raised to newness of life. God says of sinners, “No dumping allowed!”