Life in Christ is anything but boring. Have you ever looked at your life, your background or even your current messy season and wondered, “Lord, what on earth are you doing with this?” You might think your current chaos or your seemingly strange background is a complete accident but child of God, you are mistaken.
Our perfect God loves using our imperfect paths to create something spectacular. He is a Master Coordinator (cue in Romans 8:28).
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose”
Romans 8:28 NIV
God meticulously designs our lives years before we even catch onto the plot. You will see that God uses our natural traits and/or professional training when we follow Him.
Take the Gospel writers, for example. Each of their accounts reads like a personal journal molded by who they were and for some like Luke, what they did.
Let’s start with Matthew. Matthew spent years operating a tax booth. His brain naturally tracked numbers, legalities and transactions. When reading the synoptic gospels, you will notice that Matthew is the only apostle who records the Parable of the Talents and the story of Jesus paying the temple tax using a coin from a fish’s mouth. As a former tax collector, Matthew’s eyes were trained to spot the financial details. Leave it to the resident accountant to track the miraculous cash flow. No tax evasion under Matthew’s watch… lol! Now show him the money!
Next, we have Mark. Did you know that the Gospel of Mark is actually the account of Peter? Peter wasn’t learned (Acts 4:13) and so young the John Mark wrote the account of Jesus’ life from Peter’s lens. The Gospel of Mark contains the intense, fast paced, firsthand memories of Peter and you can practically feel Peter’s chaotic energy (make a wrong move and a sword may make contact your ear) dripping from those pages.
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
Acts 4:13 KJV
Luke possessed a gentle nature that overflowed with profound compassion for the marginalized. His thoughtful nature shines through every chapter and it is no wonder his writing is affectionately called the “Gospel of the Poor” or the “Gospel of Mercy”. Luke went out of his way to highlight the outcasts; the sidelined women, the despised tax collectors, the foreigners and the social pariahs. He saw the broken because his heart was wired for compassion. Fun fact; did you know that Luke was a doctor?
Our dear friend Luke, the doctor, and Demas send greetings.
Colossians 4:14 NIV
The final book in the Gospels is the account of John but his isn’t synoptic so I’ll skip him for now and move on to the author that penned the majority of the New Testament… Apostle Paul.
Apostle Paul was an elite scholar, a prominent lawyer of his time, a chronic choleric and a straight up gangster. If you mess with him, you WILL find out! Just ask the early churches of Corinth and Galatia.
“I have already warned those who had been sinning when I was there on my second visit. Now I again warn them and all others, just as I did before, that next time I will not spare them.”
2 Corinthians 13:2 NLT
“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?”
Galatians 3:1 NKJV
A murderer in his prime, Paul feared no confrontation and if you started something with him, he would, most definitely, finish it. Try Paul at your own peril.
“Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen.” Acts of the Apostles 8:1 NLT
“Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.” 1 Timothy 1:13 NIV
The Masterclass of Preparation
Paul was a highly intellectual man; fluent in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. Before he encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus, he spent years studying under Gamaliel, the highest academic authority of his day.
“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today”
Acts 22:3 NIV
In short, Paul was saying, “check my credentials.” Under Gamaliel, Paul learned the Old Testament scriptures and mastered the highly specialized legal and debate methods used by elite Jewish rabbis. When he converted, God used those exact rabbinic tools to craft the foundational theology of the New Testament.
For a Bible scholar like me 😉, I took a deep dive into some of Gamaliel’s styles of debate and philosophy and when juxtaposed with the Pauline epistles’ literary styles, you can draw parallels.
For instance, Paul constantly uses a famous first-century rabbinic logic called the Qal Vachomer (“Light to Heavy”) argument. It’s the idea that if something is true in a minor, simple case, it must be even more true in a major, complex one. We see Paul use this “how much more” logic beautifully in Romans 5:10:
“For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!”
He also used a technique called charaz, which literally translates to “stringing pearls.” In the Western world, writers quote one source, explain it and move on. But Pharisees didn’t write like that. They would list scriptures from the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms, weaving them together through common keywords to create a bulletproof legal case. When you read Romans 3:10–18, it reads like a seamless, poetic masterpiece about human brokenness. To a Pharisee, it was a master-level display of scriptural synthesis. Paul elegantly together six different Old Testament passages from the Psalms and Isaiah into a single, devastating argument. I am not going to paste all eight verses below so go ahead and do your homework like the church of Berea. 😛
Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
Acts 17:11 NLT
Paul also uses the Diatribe Method, i.e. setting up an imaginary legal opponent, asking their hostile questions and completely demolishing them. When his imaginary critic asks, “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?” Paul fires back with, “Me genoito!” the strongest Greek legal denial possible, meaning “By no means!” or “God forbid!” Paul was so dramatic.
The above scripture is found in Romans chapter six.
Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?
Romans 6:1-2 NLT
The Reality Behind the Parchment
Writing those lengthy letters in the first century was nothing like picking up a modern-day notebook and pen. It was a grueling, messy and highly specialized physical craft. Authors used a sharp, rigid reed pen called a kalamos, dipping it into a thick ink made of soot and gum. It would be easy for us to assume that writing scripture was inexpensive, but historical research reveals that writing a letter like the Book of Romans was a costly affair. When considering first-century writing fees, delivery costs and high-quality Egyptian papyrus adjusted for today’s inflation, renowned scholars estimate that producing the Book of Romans would come to approximately $2,275 USD today.
Since Paul worked part-time as a tentmaker, he couldn’t personally afford thousands of dollars to publish those scrolls. God provided wealthy Christian patrons like Gaius and Phoebe (Romans 16:23) to subsidize his ministry; funding the professional scribes and secure couriers needed to carry these masterpieces across the empire. I’m happy to see that women were making big money even then! Go Phoebe!
Another fun fact is that Paul did not physically write the bulk of his letters; he dictated them to a professional scribe (an amanuensis) and only signed them at the very end. Why? Well, the Bible hints that Paul suffered from a severe eye disease, making the physical act of writing incredibly difficult for him.
What then has become of that sense of blessing and the joy that you once had [from your salvation and your relationship with Christ]? For I testify of you that, if possible, you would have torn out your own eyes and given them to me [to replace mine].
Galatians 4:15 AMP
So…
What is the takeaway for us in our own lives today?
God does not waste a single detail of your story.
Your education, your struggles, the specialized skills you picked up on your job or even the painful seasons where you felt isolated, God already wrapped His Hands around all of it. He is preparing you for an assignment that only you are equipped to fulfill. You are a custom-designed vessel, carrying a specific fragrance of Christ (see what I did there? 😉 ) to a world that desperately needs it.
If this article spoke to your heart today and you are not yet born again, would you like to give your life to Christ? If yes, please repeat the prayer below out loud:
Dear Lord,
Thank You for dying on the cross for me. I believe in my heart that you died and rose again and I confess with my mouth that You are Lord and Saviour in my heart and in my life. I denounce my former ways and choose to be Your child. Thank You for setting me free. I am now born again.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen
God loves you, God favours you and remember, God is working everything out for you and for His good.
#SpreadTheGospel 
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