Transformation Power

I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy.

1 Timothy 1:13

The great glory of the story of the apostle Paul is knowing what he had been before seeing what he became. The greatest enemy of the Lord Jesus Christ in the first century became His greatest servant, most trusted apostle, and a faithful friend. The same hand that wrote out indictments of heresy against the early church was the hand that wrote the letters upon which the early church was based and ultimately spread. The heart that rejoiced when Stephen was stoned to death became a heart that rejoiced at the privilege of suffering for Christ’s sake. The noble statements of theology in Romans, the sweet lyrics of Christian love in 1 Corinthians 13, and the desire to reach the regions beyond with the gospel all came from the former persecutor of Christ and His church.

If ever there was any evidence of the transforming power of the gospel, it is seen in the life of Saul the persecutor who became Paul the apostle. Hopefully that same gospel has transformed you as well. If so, like Paul, may you ask the Lord today, “What do You want me to do?”