Scripture~
Deuteronomy 9-10, Psalm 86, Acts 9
Take note of the last few verses of today’s Old Testament reading:
“And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD”
Fear the Lord, walk in His ways, Love him, serve the Lord with all our heart, and soul, and to keep the commandments. Respect and love come first; it is out of that respect and love that we follow His commandments. We don’t follow the commandments to ‘earn’ His love . . . He gives it freely. You don’t earn the love of your Father, you’re Father in Heaven loves you utterly and completely from day one.
No matter how bad we are . . . no matter how vile and disgusting . . . God still calls us. Saul, a murder of the church; a man present at the martyring of Stephen; is called to setup the eventual universal church to come. The man who brought the gospel from Israel to Rome and eventually through Rome he would tell the world. This should make us think, make us focus on our own lives and if we live as if God cannot use us for the evil we have done then how wrong we could be! Our God uses all of us, even the most evil among us; what a testimony is it that a man of such evil and vile turn to God; repent from his ways, and then proclaim the name of Christ!