Paul, Who Threw Away His Thoughts and Became a Servant of God

People Who Don’t Believe in Themselves It might seem that there is a good heart in people, but if you look carefully, everyone gets many evil and dirty thoughts. If you live without thinking too much about it, it would seem you are nice and honest and you would feel like you are a good person. But once you take a careful look, you can’t imagine how many evil and dirty thoughts we have. Those who don’t know the world of the heart are happy, thinking, “I am nice,” “I am good at studying,” “I am okay.” But those who know the world of the heart don’t think that way. They hate seeing people do well, they lie, they have evil thoughts . . . as they discover such hearts within themselves, they think, “Why do I have these dirty and bad thoughts?” “I make a lot of mistakes. I did a bad thing recently and I already lied twice today. I also felt hatred towards a friend. Why do I have so many bad sides? If I follow my thoughts, more and more I will become a bad person!” They would discover their wrongdoings. As a result, those who come to not believe in themselves are truly great people.

We Should Eliminate Christians! In Acts chapter 9, there is a person called Saul. Saul was a Pharisee, who diligently served God. He thought he was serving God well. One day, Saul heard what was said by the people who believed in Jesus. They were saying that Jesus was crucified on the cross and resurrected in three days. After hearing this, a thought arose in Saul’s heart. “That is nonsense. How can a dead person resurrect in three days? That is truly a lie. Christians are wicked people who deceive innocent citizens. They are the menace of society. They should be eliminated!” Saul started to persecute those who believed in Jesus because he thought that the Christians were making up a lie to confuse people. Wherever he went in Jerusalem, he would whip and imprison every Christian he met. Without even knowing it, Saul was led by Satan and went against God and tortured the people of God. Even so, Saul thought that he was pleasing God and thought he was doing good. So, he persecuted Christians more zealously.

I Made a Big Mistake Jesus wanted to change that violent Saul into a worker of Jesus. Even on that day, Saul was heading towards Damascus to imprison Christians. That is when Jesus appeared to Saul and blocked his way. Suddenly a strong light shined on Saul, which caused him to fall on the ground. Saul fell and could not open his eyes. He then heard a voice. “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” Saul did not know who was saying that to him. He could not even open his eyes to see. Saul thought to himself. “Who did I persecute? I did catch wicked Christians and locked them in prison, but I never persecuted anyone!” Saul asked. “Who art thou, Lord?” “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.” Saul was shocked. “Is He Jesus? Then is it true that Jesus resurrected? The words that the Christians said were true but I followed my thoughts and assumed the Christians were liars!” Saul then knew how wrong it was to follow his thoughts without checking for sure. “Living according to my own thoughts and believing in my thoughts had killed and tormented so many people!”

Becoming a Precious Servant of God From that point on, Saul became a person who did not believe in himself. Whenever his thoughts would come up, he became a person who would seek the will of Jesus and follow the Word of Jesus. As he forsook his thoughts and followed the Word of Jesus, he became a precious servant of God. Moreover, the person who persecuted Christians changed, and now became a person who was persecuted preaching the gospel of Jesus. His name also changed to Paul, not Saul.

Paul of Today Even to this day, like Paul, those who don’t believe in their thoughts and believe in God are precious people of God. I hope you begin the New Year, by throwing away your own thoughts that seem good, thoughts of thinking good of yourself, and have a heart to believe and follow God only. If so, then you all can become Paul of today and do great works of God.