Story time episode 1 continued

As my brother Adam pointed out, the man in this story is indeed Paul.

Many people are familiar with the story of Paul. However, for those of you that are not, here you go. Paul was originally named Saul. As Saul he spent most of his time persecuting the followers of Christ. In fact he was responsible for deaths of many of them. Then one day while traveling he was stricken blind by an encounter with God. He was given instructions to see a certain man who would heal his blindness.

Saul followed these instructions and received healing from his blindness, received a new name, (Paul) and received salvation in Christ. From here Saul now called Paul became a powerful follower of Christ. During the course of his ministry Paul was imprisoned on more then one occasion and was eventually put to death for his Christian beliefs.

We are indebted to Paul for having written a large portion of the New Testament. The books he wrote were letters that he sent to churches that he had started in different cities. In fact some of these letters were written while Paul was in prison, awaiting his execution.

So, let’s recap. Paul was so anti-Christian that he even went so far as to have many Christians killed. Yet God chose him to write a large portion of the New Testament that we read today.

 After his conversion he was thrown in jail on more then one occasion and knew that he was going to either die in prison, or be put to death. Yet he maintained hope and faith and continued to write letters instructing the early church.

So, what does this have to do with you or me. Well, I think that Paul’s story shows that no matter what kind of sin our past holds, God is willing to forgive us. In fact not only will He forgive us, he can use us in a mighty way to profit the kingdom. We can also learn from Paul that regardless of how bad things get, like being wrongly accused, thrown in prison, and sentenced to death, we can maintain faith and hope.

While we will all sin and ,therefore, all deserve death; very few of us will ever be guilty of the kinds of sins that Paul committed. So, if God was willing to forgive Paul, he will also forgive you. And if God would use Paul, he can also use you. Furthermore, while we will all suffer, few of us will find our selves beaten, flogged, imprisoned, and eventually put to death for our faith. So, while the enemy likes to tell you that your sin is unforgivable, or that your suffering if far to great and that all hope is gone, I think Paul shows us that we will be forgiven, we can be used and we can always have faith and hope.

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