Fantastic Opportunities

Paul the Apostle lived a rough life. And the thing of it was, he chose it (well, theologically speaking, the doctrine of election teaches that God chose him for it...but I digress). No doubt what he had before his conversion was a relative life of ease, as he was a powerful and influential member of the Jewish religious community. After conversion, all that became "skybala", or street filth, filled with as much value as a dirty diaper.

He left "everything" behind to gain EVERYTHING. After encountering Christ, Paul faced rejection from his former peers, and lived out the remainder of his life facing the constant threat of harm, hunger, cold and crushing circumstances. Later on in his life, after a perilous journey across the Mediterranean on a prison ship and a shipwreck, Paul arrived in Rome where he was a prisoner. Luke recorded the fantastic opportunities that came to Paul as a result of the perilous road he traveled:

"For two full years he lived there in Rome . . . receiving all who came to him . . . [and] with great confidence and with no hindrance, he proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about Jesus." Acts 28:30-31

A normal person might have thought, as they saw the scars on their body from stones thrown at them in hatred and felt their stiff, achy joints from many years of hard travelling, "what have I gotten myself into?" But I'm certain that Paul, even after so many years, wept with joy because of the grace God showed to him and the way God had used him to spread the Good News of Christ through so many fantastic opportunities.