It has been said, “What you don’t know won’t hurt you.” I would like to suggest that what you do know could keep you from hurt. Sometimes knowing makes all the difference. In the case of Paul, there were some things that he knew that made all the difference in his life.
He knew Jesus. “For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day” (2 Tim. 1:12). He is suffering unjust imprisonment because of his faith and devotion to Christ but without shame. Why? Because He knew Jesus. There was a confident expectation that Christ would guard his soul. He had entrusted it to the Savior.
He knew his mission. “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:16). Having a mission in place helps create a drive and push forward. How many have said, “I don’t know what I’m doing with my life.” Never Paul. He knew his mission, and it was his focus.
He knew his purpose. “According to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:20-21). It is one thing to know your mission. It is another to know your purpose. Why am I here? Paul would say, “To glorify Christ, in life or death.” How he lived and died would all be tied together in a way to exalt the One that would save his soul.
He knew his reward. “In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Tim. 4:8). It is alright and healthy to look toward the reward. Paul knew what was waiting for him. This knowledge helped him get through and persevere even when all others could not.
He knew the grace of God. “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me” (1 Cor. 15:10). Paul, of all people, needed to understand grace. How would you preach to the very group you once were determined to destroy? It was an understanding of the grace and the nature of God that allowed Paul to lift his head and teach what he once persecuted.
True knowledge can make all the difference in our ability to serve the Christ. Do you know these things?