“Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future,” wrote Oscar Wilde. Do you agree? Though Wilde is not my go-to source for theology, I find a kernel of truth in his thought. What is our past? Who holds our future?
Paul had a past. Although he took no pride in it, he shared his painful story openly. With endless zeal, Paul had persecuted the people of the Way. If Jesus was the Way, Paul voted, “No Way.” He had been on his way to arrest Christians when Christ arrested him. In the very city where he was accosted by a mob, Paul had sanctioned the mob that stoned Stephen to death. Were it not for the Roman soldiers, Paul likely would have died that day. Paul had not progressed so far in his own estimation that he could forget his painful past.
Time dims our memories. We may not remember who we were B.C., “before Christ.” But we have a past. As one has said, “The only thing we contributed to our salvation was the sin from which we needed to be forgiven.” If we remember this, we will think about other sinners differently. Where would we be apart from grace? I do not want to know.
Paul’s story reminds us that there is nothing in our past that is beyond God’s mercy and grace to forgive. God transformed the apostle by the renewing of his mind. Now Paul lived to glorify God in a bright future. Like Paul, we have a future if we place our trust in Christ. Our past mistakes do not have to define us. As John Newton, author of the hymn Amazing Grace put it, "I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.” As sinners, we all have a past. In Christ we have a brilliant future.
