If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17
Early in my work life I had a coworker who seemed to delight in using God’s name as a profanity. He mercilessly taunted Christians who were new to their faith or who tried to talk with him about Jesus. On the day I left that job to move to another community and a new place of employment, I remember thinking that this man would never become a follower of Jesus.
Two years later I visited my old workplace. He was still there, but never have I witnessed such a dramatic change in a person! This man, so antagonistic to faith, was now a walking, talking example of what it means to be a “new creation” in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). And now, more than 30 years later, he’s still telling others how Jesus “met him where he was — sin and all.”
It occurs to me that the early Christians must have seen something similar in Paul, their fiery persecutor — a riveting example of what it means to become a new creation (Acts 9:1-22). What great hope both of these lives are to those who think themselves beyond redemption!
Jesus sought Paul and my former coworker — and me. And He continues today to reach the “unreachable” and model for us just how we can reach people too.— Randy Kilgore
Lord, I want to learn to reach out to others and share Your love and forgiveness. Teach me and help me to step out in both faith and trust.
READ: Acts 9:10-22
No one is beyond the reach of God.
Bible in a Year: Isaiah 1-2 and Galatians 5