Grace

 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
1 Timothy 1:14 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/1ti.1.14.ESV

Paul was a rough diamond. Before his Damascene conversion, he had blasphemously and violently persecuted Christians to death. Thankfully, Jesus literally stopped him in his tracks.

Where we might have asked God to smite Saul of Tarsus, God went one better. He transformed Saul to Paul, arguably the greatest Christian of all time. He went from persecutor to persecuted, for the sake of Christ.

What was the secret of Paul's dramatic turnaround? The overflowing grace of Christ. He deserved nothing but death and yet received abundant life (abundant in trials and tribulations too!).

Paul was strong in faith not because he was particularly worthy. It was simply that God generously gave him the gift of faith and he invested it in living all out for Him. God first loved him, so he lived a life of love for God and others.

'O Lord, because of Your love to Paul, we can have hope that You will love us too. Please give us the gift of faith to live for You and Your glory, in Jesus' name, amen'

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