We just kicked off the summer by jumping into our Running with the Giants series! I’m excited to see where God takes this. It’s such an encouragement to examine giants of faith and see the paths they took. Not everyone starts off on the right path. Paul (also known as Saul in the Bible), is the perfect example. Do you feel you want to change, that you need to be a better person? God is waiting to help you take this step just like he helped Paul.
I’m sure you’ve heard that God can use anyone. Once you learn about Paul’s life, this becomes all too true. Paul persecuted followers of Christ. Can you imagine one of your main goals in life being to kill anyone who loved Jesus? It’s heartbreaking, but you have to remember that God loved Paul through all of it. God can use anyone, and He had big plans for Paul!
Some people are what you call heavenly minded (religiously minded—knowing about God but now knowing God). You can be heavenly minded to the point where you’re of no earthy good! There are three things to do if in this predicament! First, stop elevating yourself! No one is greater than God, and if you’ve elevated yourself above Him, you’re idolizing yourself. Second, stop elevating others. In the same way that you can’t idolize yourself, you can’t idolize others! And, finally, stop excluding your brothers! God gave you friends and family to help you through this life, and you’re being “heavenly minded” if you think you can walk it alone.
“Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a ‘fool’ so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight” (1 Corinthians 3:18-19). Paul might have thought that he was doing the right thing—getting rid of those who believed in something he did not. But he was living a life of foolishness, and it took an encounter with God to get him on the right track. Through Christ he became qualified to serve God, despite all the evil he had done. We’ll explore this more later in the week!