Good morning. I have now reached a milestone of over 700 of these “thought for the day” articles. Not too long into the process I decided that every Thursday would be used to direct our thoughts to a Bible character that I feel has something special to share. I am pretty sure that I used one of those Thursdays to talk about the apostle Paul. But that’s OK, I have more to say.
When I would have written about Paul previously, I am sure that I spent most of the article writing about his conversion and his very interesting background. Those are fine topics, but today I wanted to delve into a few lessons we can learn as we consider Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles.
In 1 Corinthians 15:9 Paul describes himself in this way: For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. This isn’t false modesty it is the burden that the great apostle and evangelist carried throughout his life. While he never doubted the salvation that was his through the grace of God in Jesus Christ, Paul couldn’t forget, and it seems that he struggled to forgive himself, for his persecution of Christ before Jesus came to him on the road to Damascus. But I am not sure if any person, with the exception of Jesus Himself, has done more for the Kingdom of God and the establishment of the church of our Lord than Saul of Tarsus, who became known as Paul.
Lessons we can learn from him:
God can use anyone. I noted above Paul’s previous exploits in persecuting the Body of Christ. He said this in Acts 22:4 I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. Paul’s zealous beliefs and upbringing led him to become a religious extremist. And even though today we hold Paul in very high regard, we often gloss over the fact that he was essentially a terrorist. For the cause of his political ambitions, Saul, who would become Paul, by his own admission and description, was a terrorist against Christ. And when our Lord decided upon just the right person to carry His good news to the non-Jewish world, He chose Paul. God can use anyone.
- Hate evil. Romans 12:19commands us: Let love be without hypocrisy. Hate what is evil. Cling to what is good. God inspires Paul to write to us plainly stating the punishments that must be employed for those in the Body of Christ who knowingly continue to do evil. They may be ostracized, they may be publicly corrected, they may be “handed over to Satan so that they will learn.” 1 Timothy 1:20 But it’s worth noting that he didn’t encourage this same discipline against those outside the Church. To the sinner who is outside the Body of Christ, there should be compassion, understanding, and a commitment to bring them into the arms of Jesus for forgiveness. But in every case, hate evil and love the good.
- Be Versatile. One of my favorite passages from Paul described how he had “become all things to all people”, meaning that in order to spread the good news of Jesus’ work, Paul used every advantage he had to relate to his audience and promote Christianity in a more efficient way. This incredible statement from Paul is found in 1 Corinthians 9:2-22 To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Whatever the differences between us might be, none of it matters compared to the Good News of Jesus! We push the differences aside and find a way to stand together.
Those few lessons from the life of Paul will serve each of us well. God will use you, bless you, encourage you, forgive you, and establish you. It is His way.
Be blessed today!
Vern