It Doesn’t End At The Beginning
Compassion works towards turning that bleak future into a bright light of purpose and fulfilment
Reference: And Saul approved of their killing him.
On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. (Acts 8:1 NIV)
Explore: I have a T-shirt that says, “It shouldn’t end at the beginning.” This shirt was given to me to help support Compassion, an aid organisation that runs child sponsorship.
The idea behind their slogan is to bring awareness of the high mortality rate of children under 5 years of age who are born in developing countries. When children are born they have so much hope and potential, however, there are thousands of children, all across our world, who face bleak futures.
Compassion works towards turning that bleak future into a bright light of purpose and fulfilment. They believe that every child should have a chance and their lives should not end before they have really been given a good chance to even begin.
Application: The first thing we hear about the New Testament Saul, is of death. While he was a highly devout and religious man, we hear of him being present and approving the execution of an honest follower of Christ.
It’s lucky for Saul, as it is for all of us, that Jesus has the same slogan as Compassion: “It doesn’t end at the beginning.” While Saul’s story begins with hatred, vengeance and violence, that is not the end of his story.
Through Christ, Saul becomes Paul and ends up as one of the greatest missionaries this world has ever seen. While his beginning was dark, through Christ, his ending was filled with light.
This is true for our lives too. No matter how we came into this world, or how we have acted in the past, that is not our final chapter.
Through Christ we can bring life, hope and love into our world so that others can also experience this brighter future.
Prayer: Lord, may I not hold onto my past, but see a glorious future ahead with You. Amen.
What does your future hold?
This article was written by Linda Bailey
Linda started theological studies in 1999 in Australia. After working for ten years in various church ministries, she now works as the breakfast producer at 89.9 LightFM - the Christian radio station in Melbourne, Australia. She writes blogs every day about passages she is currently reading in the Bible. Follow her on Google Plus +Linda Bailey or Facebook by clicking the like button on the right of this page.