Tell the Story

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

TELL THE STORY

Acts 22:1-5

22:1 "Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense." 2 When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet. Then Paul said: 3 "I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. Under Gamaliel I was thoroughly trained in the law of our fathers and was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. 4 I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, 5 as also the high priest and all the Council can testify. I even obtained letters from them to their brothers in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.

NIV

Because Paul spoke in their own language they stopped all their noise and listen intently to what he was going to say. If we were every going to get a biblical lesson in witnessing for Jesus here it is. Of course this portion is only the beginning of Paul’s witness, yet it serves as a pattern, sort to speak. That is not to say we should have an exact pattern or formula as that could get too repetitive and become just a droning of words without passion. What Paul is doing is letting them know his former life, the one before his experience with Christ. It would seem this is not the most preferred method among believers today. Somehow an attitude of not bringing up our former and sorted life of sin has invaded the church. It seems many believers were born as believers always living a life dedicated to doing that which is right and never straying from that course. But the truth is we all have been at one time sinners, lost and our own sin condemning us. We should all have a story to tell of our past life and our moment of conversion. Paul is specific about who he was and what he did. Should we do any less? Is the reason we tend to shy away from telling of our past is we think are giving Satan all the glory? Paul did not care about that, in fact, he was confessing to awful acts of violence, even murder. Perhaps it is time we should confess just how rotten a life we lived before Christ intervened in our lives. Paul was relating to those he was speaking to, letting them know he was just as they are, maybe even worse than them, as far as being so entrenched in the law. Perhaps those who need to hear the gospel message would listen more intently to our message if they knew we were just like them and maybe even worse, as far as being entrenched in opposition to Christ. All of us were sinners and are but sinners saved by grace. There is no such thing as always being saved, so let us learn this lesson, and start doing what God intends for us to do, tell the story.