Before and After

All true believers know who Paul the apostle was, he wrote about two thirds of the New Testament, he also was a great Missionary who loved the Lord and the church, willing to lay down his life for it.  He suffered a great deal from religious and non-religious people and in the end he gave his life for the gospel and the cause of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Persecution seemed to be a normal part of his life and he seemed to welcome it and accept it knowing that God counted him worthy to suffer for His name.

I think Paul could live the way he did because he was completely sold out to the Lord and to furthering His kingdom.  Paul knew what his life was like before he had become a believer; he was a member of the Pharisees, was very self-righteous and was very committed to the Pharisee’s lifestyle and their ways, but at his conversion he changed his allegiance and committed the same zeal he had before to the Lord and His kingdom.  

Thinking about Paul I think of the way I committed myself to the evil one before my true conversion about 32 years ago.  I was a total freak doing his bidding and furthering his kingdom then I became a Jesus freak for the Lord after my conversion for close to the same length of time now. That is as far as the comparison goes, I wish I had the faith that Paul had and the dedication and commitment he demonstrated.

Have you ever thought about why Paul was so sold out to the Lord and loved the Lord so much?  I think he knew how desperate he was and how far he had fallen before the Lord met him on the road to Damascus as he was going to arrest the believers, have them jailed and beaten and even killed, thinking he was doing the right thing.  Paul spent a lot of his time persecuting the church out of ignorance.   Paul was the one guarding the cloaks of those stoning Stephen agreeing with what they were doing.  Check it out in Acts 7:54-60.

The Word says this in Luke 7:47, “Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”  This was the story of the sinful woman who anointed Jesus’ feet.  Check out verses 36-50 of chapter 7.  Paul loved much because he knew what the Lord had delivered him from.  Paul realized his condition before Christ and so should each of us.

Now I want to list a few things I found in my Bible about the situation we were in before and after our conversion,

Before our conversion:

We were under God’s curse

We were doomed because of our sins

We went along with the crowd

We were God’s enemies

We were enslaved to Satan

We followed our evil thoughts

I could add more to this list but I think I have written enough for everyone to realize what they have been set free of if they have been born-again.

After our conversion we have these things to look forward to:

We are loved by God

We are shown God’s mercy and given salvation

We stand for Christ and truth

We are God’s children

We are free in Christ to love, serve and sit with Him

We are taken from the grave to glory

We are given undeserved favor

We are given new spiritual life

Think about these things, and this is a short list, no wonder Paul loved the Lord more, and so should we.  It wouldn’t hurt to meditate on these things and add some of your own thoughts to the list, it may help you to be even more appreciative of what the Lord has done for you and you may even start loving Him more, I hope so.  Something to think about, may God bless you and yours and may you have a super day!!