Before Paul’s conversion, he was very religious. Because of his intense persecution of the believers or Christ followers, we could easily think of Paul as this horrible villain. The reality is that he acted out of his sincere devotion to the Jewish law. Listen to Paul’s resume without Christ:

“I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin – a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.

“I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared to the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!” – Philippians 3:5-11

Paul was religious. You could say he was going through the motions of serving God. After his encounter with God on the road to Damascus and with the Spirit in his life, Paul was now sold out to God! He went from following all the traditions and rules, to following Jesus! At the end of his life, despite the suffering and imprisonment, Paul had no regrets because he knew he had given EVERYTHING to God. He had traded in the “nothingness of life” for the whole-hearted, all consuming passion of God!

Matthew West – The Motions

This might hurt, it’s not safe
But I know that I’ve gotta make a change
I don’t care if I break,
At least I’ll be feeling something
‘Cause just okay is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of life

I don’t wanna go through the motions