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It is a trustworthy saying and worthy to be fully accepted, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief. (1 Timothy 1:15)
The Paul who is writing to Timothy here is different from the man Acts 9 tells about. The latter was arrogant and wholeheartedly believed in his vendetta against the Christians. What brought about the turnaround in Paul’s life? He met Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus. I was also a completely different person before I met Jesus Christ in the small Methodist church in Greytown. Since then my life took a different direction and from that day things were never the same.
Paul’s life changed radically. God had a specific plan and purpose for his life. The Lord says to Ananias: “Go, for he is a chosen instrument for Me to carry My Name before nations and kings and the children of Israel. Because I will show him how much he must suffer for my name” (Acts 9:15-16). As we know, Paul went through many trials in the service of the Master. In Acts 20:19 he says that he “served the Lord with all humility and many tears and trials”. He was not actually spared – we read in 2 Corinthians 12 Paul’s view about the thorn in his flesh that was given to him. Paul believed that this thorn in the flesh was sent to keep him humble. “And that I should not exalt myself over the excellency of the revelations, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, an angel of Satan, to strike me with the fist, that I should not exalt myself” (verse 7).
Regardless of what he had to go through, Paul never wavered in his devotion to Christ or in his service to the church. He says to the Corinthians: “Although I was free from all, I made myself servile to all, to win as many of them as possible” (1 Corinthians 9:19). Paul served God in humility and therefore he could say: “By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the grace of God which is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10).
My Father, I thank You for the example of Your servant, Paul. Lord, it encourages me when I read and meditate on the lives of great men who served You with humble faithfulness. Amen.
Bron: In silence and trust by Angus Buchan
Publisher: Christian Publishing Company/CUM
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