Paul calls himself the “very least of all the saints” even
though he will tell the Corinthians he worked harder than any of the apostles
and in his letter to the Galatians even question the authority of the big
three, Peter, James and John, those “reputed to be pillars”. But then one can hardly imagine the church surviving
let alone expanding without a person like Paul. The same traits that made him a
formidable foe to the fledgling faith made him the fanatical convert to the
mystery of Christ made known through revelations. His love for the Lord he
formerly persecuted was expressed through an unmatched intellect, a stoic personality
and an obstinate nature. And maybe it takes a “chief of sinners though I be” to
really appreciate with boldness and confidence the access to God carried out in
Christ Jesus our Lord. So God uses Paul’s weakness to make the Gentile church
strong and his foolishness to make the Gentiles wise to the eternal purpose of God.
While we can’t claim to be on par with
Paul it might be a good thing for us to accept that God finds our whole being (the
good, the bad, and the in-between) useful for making known the mystery of God
to the present day gentiles to whom we have been sent.
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