[Steve Myers] We were having a discussion about the apostle Paul the other day and how he was uniquely prepared to preach the gospel. In a number of ways, God used him powerfully by the preparation that Paul had in his life. One of the first things is that at his birth, he had already been set apart by God for a special service. But it didn’t stop there. He was born in an important place in the Roman Empire. He wasn’t born in Jerusalem. And so that created a whole different set of circumstances in his experience as he began to grow up. Now, later in his life, he did move to Jerusalem, and in Jerusalem is where he was educated. And he was educated at the feet of Gamaliel, one of the most important rabbis of the day. And so he had an important education there that helped him then to have a certain perspective when it came to the law. He was a Pharisee, and even more than that, he was zealous in that perspective. And so as a Pharisee, that impacted so much of his approach in life, his approach to religion, his approach to the law. And God was going to be able to use that in a special way when He could get him turned around in the right direction.

And maybe most importantly, he was a Roman. He was a Roman citizen, and as a Roman citizen, it gave him special rights, responsibilities, that gave him access around the Empire, in a very special way. And he used that citizenship to help preach the gospel. And of course, that did impact the end of his life, as well.

Now you might say, well, obviously, Paul was uniquely prepared to serve God. But sometimes we forget that he was a real man. He was like you and me. He was a real human being with his own problems, his own challenges, and was like us in many ways. And so, was Paul the only one uniquely prepared to serve God? I don’t think so. In fact, Ephesians 2:10, I think, tells us otherwise. In Ephesians 2:10, it says this: “For we are His workmanship”. You know, God has worked with us, as well, all of us, as God has called us, have been worked with by God. It says, “We were created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them”. And so, we are unique. God has called us in a unique way. And so maybe it would be interesting to think about that in your life – that, like the apostle Paul had a unique set of circumstances that God was able to utilize to help him preach the gospel in the way God wanted him to do that, God has also prepared us. Think about that. How has God uniquely prepared you for the work that He has for you to do?

That’s BT Daily. We’ll see you next time.