Paul, A Role Model for Living

I see Paul as a role model for living. Not just because he’s passionate about sharing the gospel, but in how he lived his everyday life. It’s easy for me to depend on my past as a guide for my future. This way of thinking assumes there’s a fixed trait or unchanging characteristic in who I was that determines who I can become. It’s the old nature-versus-nurture debate. But look at Paul as an example.

Paul’s Past

Paul’s life began as an avid supporter of the Jewish religion and traditions. He was about as anti-Christ as any man in his day. He didn’t just passively ignore the teachings of Christ, but he actively persecuted His followers.

Acts 9:1-2, “Meanwhile, Saul was still issuing murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and requested letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he could take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.”

His attitude toward Christ was so divisive that after his conversion to Christianity, he was feared by Christians and hated by Jews.

Acts 21:10-11: “After we had been there for several days, a prophet named Agabus arrived from Judea. When he came to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it, and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.'”

I may have ignored Christ in my earlier years, but I did not actively harm Christians for their beliefs. If Paul could overcome his beginnings, why can’t I? In God’s economy, it is not where you start, but where you end up. Salvation through Christ’s resurrection erases the past and opens the future.

Paul’s Sin Nature

Paul faced the same temptations we do. The Bible isn’t specific about which sins haunted Paul, only that they did.

Romans 7:15-20, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”

Paul wasn’t a superhero immune to the world around him. He was human, and therefore, he faced temptation. Paul believed in Christ to the point of imprisonment and torture, yet he still struggled with sin. If Paul, who was entirely devoted to Christ, struggled, why do I expect otherwise?

Paul’s Legacy

Over 2,00 years later, Paul’s words still resonate around the world. In 2025, approximately 2.64 billion Christians live worldwide, making up about one-third of the global population. Christianity remains the largest religion globally. (Lifeway Research)

Despite his treacherous beginnings and rebellious worldly nature, he made an impact that changed the world. God not only did not hold these against him but also used them to strengthen his testimony.

Now Us

Our past isn’t held against us. The blood of Christ has covered our sins. God doesn’t want us to dwell on who we were but to celebrate who we have become. We will keep fighting against the temptations of the world. God’s greatest disciple did so throughout his life, and so will we.

The obstacle we must avoid is allowing who we were to prevent us from becoming who we can be. We can be so obsessed with the past that we’re unable to build a better future. God died for our freedom from the past’s control.

God has forgiven you, and it is time for you to forgive yourself.

Ephesians 1:7, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.”