To Encourage You

1 Peter 4:3-5 “For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.  With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.”

Life is full of surprises. Don’t you agree?  So often we get used to things being a certain way, but then something happens that throws us for a loop.  We didn’t see it coming.  It’s such a big surprise.  In the passage above Peter tells us of one such surprise: a changed life.  Whenever a person becomes a Christian and his or her life is turned upside down, the changes are dramatic.  It seems so hard to believe. For example, suddenly there is a hunger for all things spiritual, be it the Word of God, the people of God, or a life that glorifies God. It’s a change that is wrought in the core of one’s being, and as Paul describes it “The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). And it is so new, so different, such a change, that anyone who knew us before we became a Christian should be surprised. 

Paul was a perfect example of this. Before his eyes were opened on the Damascus Road, he was nothing more than a terrorist. He was chasing Christians from place to place, seeking to imprison them or have them put to death.  He hated believers, and he hated Christ. But then Jesus got hold of him and everything changed. He now hated the things he once loved and loved things he once hated. He was radically changed from the inside out and no one, especially the believers, could, at first, believe it. 

Listen to this account of the man Ananias from Acts 9. He was one of the first believers to hear of Paul’s transformed heart and mind: “Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, ‘Ananias.’ And he said, ‘Here I am, Lord.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.’  But Ananias answered, ‘Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem.  And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.’ But the Lord said to him, ‘Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.’” 

Later in this same chapter we have the reaction of the Jews: “For some days (Paul) was with the disciples at Damascus.  And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ‘He is the Son of God.’ And all who heard him were amazed and said, ‘Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?’ But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.”

Finally, we have the account of the Christians at Jerusalem, as they heard about the conversion of their former enemy Saul: “And when (Paul) had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple.  But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.” 

Time after time Paul’s conversion was such a surprise.  And the same should be true of anyone who was once a sinner but was changed by grace through faith to become a child of God.  As Peter tells us in the passage above from 1 Peter 4, those who knew us before we were saved will be surprised that we no longer live as we once did. They may even malign us, make fun of us, or otherwise criticize us because we are no longer like them.  But you can be sure that though they are surprised by this, they have a much greater surprise coming if their life doesn’t likewise change before death comes.   As Peter tells us plainly, again looking to the passage above, “they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.”

So if you are not now ready to give an account to Him, my prayer is that you, like Paul, will have your eyes opened to the truth and turn to the One Who alone can make you ready and transform your life. And may God continue to empower those who now know Him to live a life of surprise compared to their past life, a life that speaks to those who see it of the change that only God can bring.