The Ragamuffin Gospel Continued

As I continue to read this powerful book on the grace of God I found afresh what I have seemed to overlook for so long. The apostle Paul makes one of the strongest and most life changing statements in the history of mankind. "All that I can say is that I forget the past and I strain ahead for what is still to come". (Philippians 3:13) If you have read anything about Paul you should know that in his pre-christian years he was a christian killing machine. He would lead bands of Jews to different towns just to beat, imprison, torture, and kill Christians. He was witness to the first person (besides Jesus) to ever lay his life down for Christ, Stephen. In fact as Stephen was being stoned the men doing the stoning laid their cloaks at his feet. Paul was not a very nice man. Then, like God must do with so many of us He knocked Paul on his ever lovin' behind and told him to stop killing Christians. Now, I don't know allot about God, but one thing I do know is that when God sits you down on your backside there is nothing you can do but listen.

Long story short, Paul converts to Christianity and starts preaching the word of God to anyone who will listen. So how does a guy like Paul forget the awful things that he had done in his past? I mean, I feel that I have done some pretty crummy things in my time, but how does one forgive himself for killing people he would now love?

When Christ died on the cross all of our past failures, miss steps, and mishaps were forgotten. They are vaporized in the bug zapper of history. The past no longer matters. It is only the future, what is to come, that matters.
Stay tuned, there is still so much to be learned and shared about The Ragamuffin Gospel. Join in, I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject. Feel free to comment.