The Apostle Paul can arguably be considered the best Christian who ever lived. But he was not always such a man. Far from it. Paul was originally Saul of Tarsus, an evil man who hated Christ and all things Christian. He did everything he could to stamp out Christianity.

But God got a hold of him on the road to Damascus. Paul admitted, “Although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.” God changed evil Saul to the wonderful Christian we know as the Apostle Paul. What God did, Paul never could have done. Insolent men are proud, impudent, and contemptuous. They are what we consider evil.

We should remember the miracle God wrought in Paul when we witness to someone we might want to consider incorrigible. Such miracles make us realize the power of the Gospel message. It is difficult for us to understand how the man who set out to harass and arrest believers could so suddenly become a believer and God’s “chosen vessel to the Gentiles.”

We believers can understand this change when we honestly consider our former selves. The Lord took and changed many of us from sinful and faithless doubters to staunch believers in Christ Jesus, the Son of God. The process is what is referred to as repentance, something Jesus and all His apostles declared that God requires.

Many people misunderstand what repentance is. Many have been led to believe that it entails kneeling, crying, and praying a “sinner’s prayer.” My counter to that is that the thief beside Jesus on the cross did none of these things and yet repented and was saved that very hour. Kneeling is good. It shows humility and reverence for God. Crying in regret of past offenses to God is good. But none of these are actual repentance. 

Repentance simply means changing one’s view and opinion of himself and Christ Jesus. Change in self means finally realizing that we are not good, even after Christ saves us because there are no good people on earth. Repentance is seeing ourselves as we are: vile and rebellious sinners. And repentance means sincerely desiring to change and become pleasing to God. Repentance also means changing one’s opinion of Christ as truly God and willing to forgive and save all who ask it of Him.

Lest you become disillusioned, keep in mind that you will continue sinning on occasion even after you are saved and heaven-bound. The great Paul had to confess as much in Romans 7:14-15, when he said, “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.” Every soul living on earth is a sinner. Most are lost sinners, but some are sinners saved by grace.

Ephesians 2:8-9 makes it clear that salvation is by grace through Christ alone and never by works. This means no one can earn or buy his way to heaven. We are not saved by good works, but only for good works. Though good works have nothing to do with salvation, we should do all the good we can out of gratitude to the Lord for what He did for us at Calvary. Christ changes things; He changed us by His grace. May we praise Him forever!