Monday — Foundation Day
What if the parts of your story you most want to hide are the very parts someone else most needs to hear?
Today's Scripture: "I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel... I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison." — Acts 22:3-4
Reflection:
When the Apostle Paul stood before an angry crowd that wanted him dead, he didn't lead with his credentials or clean up his past. He started exactly where God found him — religious, educated, passionate, and completely wrong. He even admitted he'd watched Stephen be stoned to death and held the coats of the men who threw the rocks.
Paul didn't skip a single uncomfortable detail. And that was intentional.
Here's why this matters: when we quietly edit the rough edges out of our story, we accidentally shrink the grace. The bigger the "before," the bigger the grace on display. Your past isn't a liability — it's the canvas God painted on.
There's a real temptation, especially the longer we follow Jesus, to present a more polished version of ourselves. We think our old struggles make us look less spiritual. But the truth is the opposite. Our scars aren't something to hide. They're the evidence that Jesus heals.
Your testimony is not your history. It is his grace on display through your history.
Today's Application: Take a moment today to think about your "before" — the part of your story that existed before Jesus stepped in. Don't minimize it. That's where grace did its most visible work.
A Closing Thought: Your story isn't about how far you've come. It's about how faithful Jesus has been. And that story belongs to someone who needs to hear it.
What if the parts of your story you most want to hide are the very parts someone else most needs to hear?
Today's Scripture: "I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel... I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison." — Acts 22:3-4
Reflection:
When the Apostle Paul stood before an angry crowd that wanted him dead, he didn't lead with his credentials or clean up his past. He started exactly where God found him — religious, educated, passionate, and completely wrong. He even admitted he'd watched Stephen be stoned to death and held the coats of the men who threw the rocks.
Paul didn't skip a single uncomfortable detail. And that was intentional.
Here's why this matters: when we quietly edit the rough edges out of our story, we accidentally shrink the grace. The bigger the "before," the bigger the grace on display. Your past isn't a liability — it's the canvas God painted on.
There's a real temptation, especially the longer we follow Jesus, to present a more polished version of ourselves. We think our old struggles make us look less spiritual. But the truth is the opposite. Our scars aren't something to hide. They're the evidence that Jesus heals.
Your testimony is not your history. It is his grace on display through your history.
Today's Application: Take a moment today to think about your "before" — the part of your story that existed before Jesus stepped in. Don't minimize it. That's where grace did its most visible work.
A Closing Thought: Your story isn't about how far you've come. It's about how faithful Jesus has been. And that story belongs to someone who needs to hear it.
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