Lost Cause

Have you ever looked at someone and said that they were a lost cause? Maybe you saw the way that they dressed or acted. Maybe it was their background that told you they could never understand the Gospel. Or maybe it was their religion that put them out of reach of the saving knowledge of Christ. 

It's sad how we often do the Holy Spirit's work isn't it? We judge a person by outward appearance and set them outside of the Gospel's reach. That was what happened to Saul of Tarsus. 

Saul was a religious zealot who knew the Law of the Pharisees like the back of his hand. He had been steeped in doctrine from his youth. He was the son of a pharisee and a champion of the cause. He was so fanatical that he was a witness to and the cause of murder. He was surely a lost cause. Too religious to become a Christian. But then he met Jesus. 

When Jesus got a hold of him, his fanaticism did a one eighty from being a Pharisee to becoming a child of God. Rather than trying to eliminate The Way he propagated it all over the world. Many of Paul's letters become recognized as Scripture and are read by billions until today. 

How could this "lost cause" become such an amazing tool used to spread the Gospel of God throughout the world? Jesus got a hold of him. Once, the great evangelist, D.L. Moody heard a preacher say something like this, "The world has yet to see what would happen if a man was totally dedicated to God!" Moody responded to that challenge and said, "I will be that man!" 

Moody was a great preacher of the Gospel and hundreds of thousands were converted to the kingdom because of his tremendous Gospel preaching and teaching. However, I still wonder about that preacher's claim. He must have been ignorant about the life of the Apostle Paul. There has never been a lost cause who was used more than Paul. But could anyone have ever guessed that this loser would become such a great influence in the world? Only the Holy Spirit could do such miraculous work. And he is always up for the task. That is what he does. He takes the hopelessly lost and makes them into fit tools for the Master's work.

So my friend, never judge lost causes. You never know what God will do with them. A lost cause in God's hand cannot be stopped. In fact, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you were once a lost cause.