Salvation begins the greatest race
Saul’s salvation was no different from anyone else’s. Consider the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, as recorded in the gospel according to John: Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again (John 3:4-7). Saul’s salvation was complete when he acknowledged Jesus’ Lordship in his life. According to what the book of Acts records, he immediately turned from his old ways and became dedicated to pursuing the things of God. Paul completely surrendered his life to serving Christ, and at the same time dedicated himself to doing what God would have him to do.
Again, looking at the passage in the book of Acts, And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do (Acts 9:4-6), we see not only Saul’s acceptance of Jesus as his personal savior, but Saul also dedicated himself to follow the will of God in his life. Paul could not have completed the course Christ put in front of him had he not been dedicated in following Christ.
Unfortunately, not everyone does this at the same time they accepted Christ as their savior, as Paul and others do. Sometimes, we accept God’s gift of Salvation and never grow beyond that because we become content to stay “babies in Christ” – never striving to walk closer to the Lord or to even begin the greatest race He has set before us. It is never too late to dedicate your life to following the Lord Jesus Christ and allowing Him to have complete lordship over your life. It is never too late to accept the course He has set before us. There have been many times we hear of Christians making the decision to rededicate their life to the Lord. Maybe you have done that yourself, fully ready to accept whatever it is that the Lord has called you to do. It is easy for our Christian walk to become clouded, weighed down, and for us to stumble and fall to sin and the weaknesses of our flesh. Paul wrote in his second letter to Timothy: For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day (2 Timothy 1:12). We simply must have faith that as we strive to follow Christ’s plan for our lives he is able to give us what we need to complete the journey. After Salvation, we cannot do anything until we have purposefully dedicated – committed ourselves to following after Christ. It is only then that we can start on the great race that Jesus has called us to.
