Paul is probably my favorite person of the Bible. There are a few people in scripture that stand out to me for various reasons, but Paul is regularly at the top of the list. Like Talasi wrote about last week, Paul’s conversion is one of the most dramatic ever. His transformation was so remarkable… maybe as close to 180 degrees as you can get. And, as Talasi mentioned, Paul went from killing Christians to where we see this week in Acts 21:13 that He is ready to die himself for the Lord Jesus. Amazing.
That got me wondering about where I would be without Paul. What if he had stopped short of deeming it worthwhile to die for his faith?
I know that would have impacted me significantly. I have learned so much through Paul and all his writings. The insights and wisdom that God gave Paul and that he shared with Christians then, and down through the ages since, have been revolutionary for me in my life. I have learned so much about who Jesus is, and how I should live, all because of Paul. If Paul had stopped short and decided not to push on to Jerusalem as we read about this week—and what happened to him from there—things would perhaps be very different for me now.
But as I think about all of this, and how much of an impact that Paul has had on me, I note there is actually another person that has had an even bigger impact on me. As amazing as Paul is, and as much as he has influenced me and countless others as a hero of the faith, without this other person I may not have ever paid any attention to Paul. I might not have ever taken the time to learn anything about him or what he had to say.
My Mom lead me to the Lord when I was 5 years old. She was instrumental in explaining to me that Jesus was the only one that could solve my sin problem and that I needed Him to be my saviour. Without my Mom, Paul might never have influenced my life at all.
Which again got me thinking.
Where would we be without those people, like my Mom, that introduced us to Jesus? What would your world and my world look like today if they hadn’t thought it worthwhile to tell us about Him?
So often we think about Paul and Moses and Abraham, and others we read about in the Bible, and we want to be like them. And that is great. We should aspire to be as significant in our faith as they have been. But don’t miss out on being that someone even more significant than Paul to a person around you that doesn’t know Christ.
God has placed you uniquely where you are to testify about Him to someone around you. You can be the one that introduces them to Jesus… and Paul too. And one day, as they think about their world, they will sit back and wonder about where they might have been without you.
-Doug Baynton
(Lead Pastor)