“The Whole Story”
Everyone has a life story and unfortunately,
there are times when others focus only on half of a person’s story. Many people highlight the faults of the early
apostles. However, that is not the END
of their story. As we study history we
discover that each of the apostles, with the exception of John, were killed
because of their refusal to reject their faith in Christ. It is common knowledge that Peter denied
Christ three times before Jesus was crucified but in the end, Peter was
crucified upside down because he refused to deny Christ. Thomas is frequently referred to as “doubting
Thomas” because of his skepticism regarding the resurrection of Jesus. But he was stabbed with pine spears and
burned to death by the enemies of Christ because he fully believed in the risen
Savior. The other apostles abandoned
Jesus while He was being held as a prisoner, but in the end they were beaten to
death, stabbed to death, stoned, crucified, and beheaded because they would not
abandon the Gospel of Christ.
Paul was known to imprison and murder
Christians prior to his encounter with Christ.
However, the second half of his life was spent evangelizing in order to
lead more people to Christ than he had killed because of their belief in
Jesus. God sees us as the individuals He
created us to be and forgives us of the sins we have committed along the way
when we are repentant.
Romans 3:23-26
23 for all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God, 24 being
justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in
Christ Jesus, 25 whom
God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through
faith. This was to
demonstrate His righteousness, because in God’s merciful restraint He let
the sins previously committed go unpunished; 26 for the demonstration, that is, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He
would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Romans 8:28-30
28 And we know that God causes all
things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who
are called according to His purpose. 29 For those whom
He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He
would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters; 30 and
these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called,
He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
