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Person Of The Week: Paul
Obviously the life of Paul spans volumes, so we’ll just concentrate on a few observations here.
First, Paul exemplifies a man who wants nothing more than to be acceptable to God. If this meant admitting that blind loyalty to Judaism led him away from God, and repentance meant rejecting the flawed aspects of his heritage, then Paul was willing to do it. Paul truly restructured his life’s orientation in order to gain Christ (Gal. 2:20; 6:14).
Secondly, Paul had passion. Sometimes that passion takes on a rigid tone (Gal. 3:1; I Cor. 5:3-5; etc.), but Paul is always motivated by defense of the truth. He knows that false teaching will lead souls away from God, and his highest goal is to save as many people as he can (I Cor. 9:22; Gal. 2:5). Paul was the very opposite of many today who refuse to take a strong, moral stand on anything. One thing about Paul – you would have known where you stood with him.
Thirdly, the courage and focus of Paul in serving the Lord is phenomenal. He persevered; he kept preaching in the face of severe persecutions; he was not distracted from his spiritual life-goal by anything. We know so much about Paul’s life because I believe the Holy Spirit wanted us to see the potential of singular devotion to Christ looks like. It looks like the apostle Paul.
