Saving Grace

from Find Joy In All Things by Melissa B. Kruger

Let’s go back to the beginning of Paul’s ministry, when God laid the foundation for Paul’s joy. Not only did God change Paul’s heart, but He also set him apart as an apostle, giving him the calling of authority in the church and, later, the privilege of writing the very words of Scripture. God intervened and transformed this man’s life, setting him on a course to share the good news of Jesus with those outside the Jewish faith. God prepared a ministry for Paul and prepared Paul for the ministry. Paul went from persecutor to preacher to persecuted. 

While we are unlikely to experience a blinding light on the road to Damascus as Paul did, each of us has a story of faith that’s a miracle in its own way. Your story may be as dramatic as Paul’s, or you may have experienced a slow awakening to faith. God calls each of us to Himself in different ways. Whatever way He worked in your life, the good news is that the scales that once blinded you fell from your spiritual eyes! God has prepared a ministry for you and has prepared you for a ministry to others. 

Paul met a variety of people during his time in Philippi. Lydia, for example, was a businesswoman from Thyatira, wealthy enough to invite Paul and his companions to her household. Paul also met a slave girl, fellow prisoners, and a Roman guard who shared the gospel with his entire household.

‬How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭52:7

Men and women, rich and poor, religious and nonreligious, politically connected and enemies of the state. The good news of the gospel is for everyone. No one is so good that they don’t need the gospel, and no one is so lost that the gospel can’t find them. 

Take some time today to reflect on your own story of salvation. Maybe you are just at the beginning of understanding God’s saving grace! Or maybe you know someone who needs to hear the good news of the gospel. Pray that the Lord might open his or her heart.

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.

‭‭Philippians‬ ‭1:27‭-‬28

While the book of Philippians records a conversation between Paul and his brothers and sisters in Philippi, all of God’s Word is a letter between God and His people, as He reveals Himself throughout the ages so that all might come to Him.

Who is God using in your life to bring you closer to Him?