Paul (also called Saul) was one of the least likely people to be a crucial part of the building of the church. He was one of the people trying to stop the church from growing. In Acts 8, we’re told that he was persecuting the Jerusalem church. ‘Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison’ (Acts 8:3 NIV). But Jesus appeared to him while he was on the way to Damascus, and he became a believer. In fact, ‘he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.’ Paul was then instrumental in the spread of the early church. A large percentage of the New Testament letters are written by him and he endured huge amounts of persecution and suffering for his faith. But he stayed strong through it all. In one of his letters he said: ‘I am happy in my sufferings for you. There are things that Christ must still suffer through his body, the church. I am accepting, in my body, my part of these things that must be suffered’ (Colossians 3:24 NCV). We might feel like the least likely person in our church to make changes, share our faith with others or do something for God’s kingdom. But we can. No matter how far from God’s path we’ve walked, we can always come back and be used by Him. When we’re working for God’s kingdom, we can often find ourselves facing more spiritual attack. The enemy doesn’t like the fact we’re making kingdom advances. The question is, will we be like Paul and rejoice in our sufferings? Or will we allow them to stop our kingdom work?
