But When God Changes Everything | Steven Furtick
Have you ever felt trapped by your past? One of the most troubling things about sharing your past with others is that people can confine you to the prison of who you once were. For Saul, later known as Paul, it wasn’t a past filled with obvious sins—it was a past marked by self-righteousness. To those around him, he was a persecutor of Christians, and they struggled to forget what he once represented. This is precisely why it was crucial for Saul to seek validation directly from God.
I once heard an insightful story about three baseball umpires discussing their philosophies on calling balls and strikes. The first umpire confidently said, “I call it like it is.” The second umpire stated, “I call it like I see it.” But the third umpire boldly declared, “It ain’t nothing till I call it.”
Today, I believe God is delivering a similar message: “It ain’t nothing till I call it.” You might think highly of your résumé or your achievements, but it doesn’t truly matter until God defines it.
Paul, who was highly educated, exceptionally talented, and incredibly charismatic, openly reflected on his past, saying, “You’ve heard about my previous way of life—how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism far beyond many peers and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.”
But here’s the powerful turning point, highlighted in Galatians 1:15—Paul states, “But when God…” These three words changed everything. After all that Paul had done against Jesus, after fighting Him intensely, Paul found himself transformed into someone who spread Jesus’ teachings to the entire world. That’s the magnitude of change God can accomplish.
