“From Saul to Paul”

Of all the people who kept the rules, Saul was the best.

“I’m good at being good!” he’d tell you.

He was very proud. And very good. But he wasn’t very nice.

Saul hated anyone who loved Jesus. He traveled around looking for them. He wanted to catch them and put them in prison. He wanted everyone to forget all about Jesus. He didn’t believe Jesus was the Rescuer. And he didn’t believe Jesus was alive, either.

You see, Saul had never met Jesus.

So one day, Jesus met Saul.

. . .

“It’s not about keeping rules!” Paul told people. “You don’t have to be good at being good for God to love you. You just have to believe what Jesus has done and follow him. Because it’s not about trying, it’s about trusting. It’s not about rules, it’s about Grace: God’s free gift – that cost him everything.”

What had happened to Paul? He met Jesus.

Paul got a new job. He called himself a servant and traveled everywhere telling everyone about Jesus. He got shipwrecked – three times! He even ended up in prison.

“God loves us!” he wrote from prison. “Nothing can ever – no, not ever! – separate us from the Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love of God he showed us in Jesus!”

~ The Jesus Storybook Bible