In Christ Alone

October 31

The Apostle Paul was quite focused on the great disparity between the so-called ‘goodness’ of man and the holiness of God. Quite probably, he made a clear distinction between the total worthlessness of the former and the complete perfection of the latter because he had himself been preoccupied with his own righteousness, with impressing God by his dedication to His work as he understood it.

Before His encounter with Jesus on the Road to Damascus (see Acts 9:4-18) Paul had persecuted believers. He assented to the stoning of the first Christian martyr, Stephen (see Acts 7:55-8:1) and he was on his way to round up and arrest people of faith in Jesus when he was himself ‘arrested’ by the Lord along the way to do so (Acts 9:4).

Paul, a fanatic for God as he believed Him to be, thought he did the Almighty a favor when he assented to the arrest and slaying of believers in Christ. He believed his doing so, his ‘credentials,’ gave him right standing with the Holy One. Yet when He met the Living Savior, when he had the scales removed from his eyes, he came to an entirely new understanding of the God of Heaven! Instead of arresting believers and assenting to their deaths, Paul became one of them!

His fervor for the Christ he had persecuted became such that he willingly laid down his life to witness the Lord’s saving grace to others (see his view of his up-coming execution in II Timothy 4:6-8). His only joy was in sharing II Corinthians 5:21, life’s only significant truth, with as many as he could reach: “Christ who has no sin became sin for us so we, through Him could become right with God.” Paul no longer cherished his life or esteemed his credentials; his whole joy was in Christ alone.