One of the first books that I read after becoming a
Christian eight years ago was a book called The
Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning. I was blown away by Manning’s ability
to bring the ideas of grace and God’s love to life in a way that was tangible to
me and I immediately longed (and still do) to experience God’s grace in the way
that he seemingly had.
Several months ago I read Manning’s memoir, All is Grace, which started to bring
into focus how and why he had experienced God’s love and grace in such a rich
way as he outlined his struggles in marriage and with alcoholism – at least
those that he can remember as the effects of years of drinking have eaten away
at his memory.
I was also struck by the unique, even messy, ways that the
redemption that comes through the Gospel has played itself out throughout his
lifetime. Redemption certainly isn’t neat and clean, and the ways that God
sometimes brings glory to Himself don’t often make sense at first glance.
There are numerous examples of this in Scripture, but we
need look no further than one small section of Paul’s letter to the Galatians
to get an amazing picture of God’s work of redemption.
“For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I
persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. And I was
advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely
zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. But when he who had set me
apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal
his Son to me, in order that I might preaching him among the Gentiles, I did
not immediately consult with anyone.” (Galatians 1:13-16)
Paul makes it clear that God brought him into a relationship
with Himself in order that he might preach the Gospel to the Gentiles. But this
statement from Paul about his calling to preach to the Gentiles immediately
follows his description about his “former life.” Even though this entire letter
was written for the purpose of validating Paul as an apostle and therefore his
ministry and gospel so that he might be able to
defend it against those preaching a different gospel, his past life of
persecution and intense legalism is not something that he tries to hide or
avoid. Rather, it’s a significant part of his story, who God has made him to
be, and the Gospel that he preaches.
It’s often interesting to see the types of people that God
chooses to carry out certain missions or tasks. God could just as easily have
used one of the original apostles in place of Paul in order to reach the
Gentiles, but he instead (or additionally) chooses to call someone to himself
and redeem someone who was violently persecuting the early church.
Here are three significant ways that God redeems Paul’s
“former life”:
1) In Paul’s letters, he is constantly reminding
people of the Gospel, probably because he himself needs to hear it constantly
lest he revert to his former life of legalism. In doing so, he has helped
millions of Christians throughout history tune their hearts to the grace of the
Gospel instead of the legalism of the Law.
2) God needed someone who was bold, courageous, and
zealous for him, so instead of wiping out those things in Paul and his
pre-conversion personality, He mends Paul’s heart and tweaks his passions so
that they might be directed toward Kingdom purposes and used for His glory.
3) The full redemption and significance of Paul’s
life takes thousands of years to play out, and is in fact still working itself
out. It would have been easy for Paul to get caught up in regret regarding his
former life, the “thorn” in his flesh (2 Corinthians 12), or the struggles of
his churches, and for him to think that God wasn’t using him and he wasn’t as
successful as he’d hoped, but thousands of years later, Paul is one of the most
influential missionaries of all-time and his letters have helped bring
countless Christians into a relationship with Christ.
So how does this glimpse into the many colors of redemption
affect our own lives? Again, three thoughts:
1) We are called into a relationship with Christ
for a purpose, and that is to bring glory to God. The ways in which our lives
are redeemed are meant to be turned back to God in praise and service, not so
we can pursue our own goals.
2) Don’t merely forget what God has brought you
through – those things may have happened for a very specific reason. How might
your past experiences benefit others or be shaping you into who God wants you
to be?
3) We should have confidence that God will use us
despite our past, present, and future failures, and regardless of how difficult
following Jesus and becoming more like Him can seem at times, God will carry
his work of redemption in our lives out to completion.
For Brennan Manning, even as a Catholic priest who was
traveling the world for speaking engagements and writing books, he often found
that his life was spiraling out of control. Yet God used him in the midst of
all kinds of things. Redemption didn’t always play itself out in visible,
tangible ways in his life in the sense that there’s a victory story of getting
“all cleaned up” and overcoming alcoholism or restoring his marriage, yet he
preached a message of grace and love that he himself continuously needed to hear.
And as it turns out, so did millions of other people, including myself.
So how will your story of redemption play out? How might God
want to use you in spite of, or maybe even because of, your past pain or
failures?
But be “sure of this, that he who began a good work in you
will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6)
-CK
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