Even though the Apostle Paul introduced himself in the beginning of his letters to the churches, it was just a formality. He was no stranger to any of those churches. The people of those churches not only knew what he said about himself, but they also knew what others said about him. There were certainly detractors and antagonist. There were surely those who did not trust Paul, but thought of him as a wolf in sheep clothing. For a long time some felt he was using the gospel, pretending to be a disciple, in order to bring Christians out of hiding.
It was a past he did not deny, but one he acknowledged. In his letter to the Galatian Christians he wrote, "You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it." (Galatians 1:13) As we consider those who we remember as the spiritual giants in the pages of Scripture, it would seem that God is truly unpredictable, surprising, and takes great delight in doing the unexpected. Who would use a murderer to lead the Hebrews out of slavery? Who would take a shepherd boy and make him a giant killer? Who would take uneducated fishermen and entrust to them the mission of Christ? And, who would choose the chief antagonist of the Jesus movement and make him its foremost advocate?
Of course, this unpredictable and surprising God is still up to His old tricks today. I remember a guy with a speech impediment called to be a preacher. I can never forget the unemployed father and husband with three teenage children who came into the church office with a sizable check for his year's tithe. Also, in my memory are more than a few women busy with family concerns who heard the call to give leadership to other women in Bible studies and small groups. And, then last of all, I live every day with amazement and gratitude that God took a young teenage introvert who could hardly carry on aa conversation with another and gave him a pulpit from which to preach the gospel for over forty years.
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