I
love the Acts of the Apostles.
It
is so relatable,
understandable
and
tangible.
It
makes sense
and
can so easily be related to our lives.
It
reminds us that we still have this call to be witnesses to Christ.
That
we have a duty to spread the Gospel.
It
shows us that we are not alone in our sufferings.
Persecution
began as soon as the Church did.
The
Church’s first martyr, St. Stephen,
was
killed in Chapter 8 of Acts.
Chapter
8!
From
the get-go the Christians suffered persecution,
some
even to the point of death.
I
was re-reading the part that talks about St. Stephen’s martyrdom
and
I am fairly certain my jaw literally dropped.
“They [the Sanhedrin] threw him [St. Stephen] out of
the city and began to stone him. The witnesses laid down their cloaks at the
feet of a young man named Saul….Now Saul was consenting to Stephen’s execution.”
Acts 7:58 & 8:1
The
first time read this,
my
thoughts were something of the like,
‘Hm,
Saul, that’s a nice name. Sounds familiar.’
Unfortunately,
I
am not joking.
I
must have been tired.
The
second time I read it,
paying
much more attention to detail,
I came
to realize that Paul,
my
absolute favorite author in the Bible,
was
present,
and
consented to,
the
murder of the Church’s first martyr.
I
do not know if I learned this pivotal tidbit of information before or not,
but
if I did, it was nowhere to be found in my noggin.
I
know that Paul persecuted Christians
but
there is something that stands out about him consenting to St. Stephen’s
murder.
What
Paul witnessed was gross and gruesome.
No
human eye should have to see what Paul saw.
No
human heart should have to carry that burden.
Paul
had this experience.
He
was then given a choice as a result of that experience.
He
could continue to support the persecution of Christians.
Or
He
could support the Christians.
Ironically,
he
did both,
the
second option just took him quite a bit of time to get to.
Paul
was a murderer.
He
had blood on his hands.
He
disappointed God.
He
sinned.
Big
time.
And?
After Paul’s conversion,
he supported the Christians.
He became a Christian.
He
is one of the greatest examples of a Christian.
Ever.
God
used Paul.
God
used a murderer.
God
used a sinner.
God
wants to use you.
Pride,
lust,
lies,
fear,
weakness,
pain,
suffering,
sorrows,
ugliness.
He
wants to use you despite all of that.
He
was to take you, oh sinner,
and
help make you one of the greatest Christians of all time.
Just
like Paul.
He
wants you to witness.
He
wants you to help souls get to Heaven.
He
wants you.
Because
He loves you.
He
loves you far too much to just let you sit and dwell
on
the fact that you screwed up.
He
created you for a purpose
and
until we break the chains,
the
bondage of sin,
we
won’t be able to fulfill that purpose.
He
wants you.
He
loves you.
And
we need Him.
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