Serving Christ Despite Our Past

“I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent” (1 Tim 1:12-13a). Paul makes a confession to young Timothy, one Timothy already knew, that Paul was not always a believer and disciple of Christ from the beginning. Like most of us in the western world we do not accept Christ as the Messiah, nor as our personal savior, the first time we hear His salvation preached to us. We, like Paul, often place ourselves as enemies of Christ after our first exposure to Him. Granted not everyone has the same level of hostility towards Christ as Paul, but we are still hostile to him, it is just a matter of degrees.

However, one of the blessings in Paul’s life, which is also a blessing in our lives, is that our prior status does not disqualify us for Christ’s service. Despite the fact Paul was one of the most violent opponents of the gospel before his conversion, Paul still became an apostle. An apostle appointed by Christ Himself and chosen as the “instrument of mine (Jesus) to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel” (Acts 9:15b). What an amazing fact! The most violent “blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent” of the fledgling Church of Jesus Christ is given the second greatest position in the early church, the apostle to the Gentiles. It is the man whom oversaw the persecution of Christians and made a career for himself cleansing Judaism of this heresy (Act 9:1-2) that becomes the apostle to the Gentiles. More than that He is the one chosen by Christ Himself to carry Christ’s name before kings also! A privilege not granted to the other apostles, at least not to the degree Paul did.

What does this mean for us? No matter how much of blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent of the Jesus we have been we can still be appointed to His service. We still have a place of service to our Lord. We can never ignore the problems our past bring with us into our service of Christ, especially those areas where we are still prone to fall and disobey God’s Word. Yet, the experiences of our life before salvation are often the very things God uses most to make us useful to His service, both as a testimony of His power and as instruments and means of our service to Him. May God be glorified and His power manifested in our weakness both in our past and present deeds.