I couldn’t help but think of Paul who was born Saul and was a huge zealot against any Christians before the Lord put him on a different path. For a while people were afraid of Paul, thinking he might be living a double life. After all, he was fierce about persecuting those who differed from the way he believed.
Despite all the pain Saul caused for many people before he was converted, God saw something in Paul he could use to further His kingdom. The change in Saul, not only affected his life, and those he taught in Bible times, but still has a massive affect on anyone who believes the Scriptures today as truth!
We all begin as sinners. That’s an absolute given. When we feel the conviction of our sin, we turn to God for forgiveness and commit our lives to service for Him. There are those who grew up in a Godly home, spent their entire lives in the company of other Believers in church. It would seem these would have an easier time making the choice to follow Christ.
That isn’t always the case. People are easily deceived. Just as the pastor mentioned above was able to deceive his parishioners, we can deceive not only ourselves, but those around us as we ‘play the part’ of being a born again Believer. But God knows the truth. Those who only ‘act’ like Believers are like the Pharisees in Bible times. They knew the truth, but chose to not accept Jesus for who he was, even though he fulfilled every prophecy of the coming of the Christ Child.
The pastor I spoke of, once he was incarcerated, realized the error of his ways, after his world collapsed around him. He’d lost everything; his wife, his children, and everything that he’d held dear. His callousness toward his sin, God and others who would try to help him, sent him spiraling to a place he hadn’t expected. His mindset had been to be and look as successful as possible because that’s the ‘American way’! But that’s not God’s way!
Recognizing his fall for what it was, this pastor made things right with God. He still had to pay the consequences for his sin, but he was free in a way he couldn’t have fathomed before. God cleansed him just the same as he cleansed Saul all those years ago.
God is still the healer of the heart today. He can take any situation or circumstance that is as ugly as it comes, and change it for His good. Every life has merit and God has the ability to use even our bad choices for furthering His Kingdom. No one is exempt from God’s goodness. But we have to be willing to see ourselves as we are: sinners! It’s through the acceptance of His forgiveness, after our confession of our sins, that we can move forward, no matter what our sins, when we are sincere.
Whether we are a person who ‘grows up’ in the church and chose to not follow him, or whether our decisions are based on a life without any knowledge of Christ, the decision is equal. We must be convicted of our sins, and accept we made them; ask forgiveness, accept God’s forgiveness and His working Spirit in our now changed lives.
As we commit to following him, we will no longer be living a ‘double life’ deceiving those around us about who we are, but letting the Light of Christ work in us and through us.
Photo Credit: Living A Double Life
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