Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

John Newton couldn’t outrun the weight of his past. At just eleven, he left school and stepped into a world of cruelty, selling human lives into slavery—decisions that would one day haunt him like a ghost he could not shake.

But one night, everything changed. A storm of unimaginable fury descended upon his ship. As monstrous waves threatened to sink the vessel, fear gripped his heart.

Desperate, he reached for a book—a Christian one filled with words about mercy, conviction, and a God who could redeem even the worst of men. As he read by flickering lantern light, something broke loose inside of him. If grace was real, maybe, just maybe, it could reach even him.

He survived the storm, but the man who stepped onto dry land was not the same one who had set sail.

Years later, as a pastor, Newton longed to help others grasp the mercy that had changed him. He saw that people needed more than rehearsed prayers and ancient psalms. They needed songs they could feel in their bones—songs that told the truth about being lost and found.

So, he began writing.

“Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.”

Maybe you have believed the lie that your past defines you. That you have gone too far, done too much, or strayed too deeply into the mess of life to ever be redeemed. But if John Newton’s story tells us anything, it is that grace is real. It reaches into the darkest places. It finds the lost. And it is still as amazing today as it was then.

 

Lyrics:
Amazing grace
How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I’m found
Was blind, but now I see

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed

My chains are gone
I’ve been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy reigns
Unending love, amazing grace

The Lord has promised good to me
His word my hope secures
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures

[2x]
My chains are gone
I’ve been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy reigns
Unending love, amazing grace

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow
The sun forbear to shine
But God, Who called me here below,
Will be forever mine.
Will be forever mine.
You are forever mine.

Music video by Chris Tomlin performing Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone).