Life for Life

Systematic metropolitan life has reduced dramatically the sight occurrences of death. Unless you are directly related to the matter, it is hard seeing death come sweeping away. Death was so unfamiliar to me, yet the Bible is filled with it, almost to the point I fail to recognize the gravity of the situation. 

Here is Saul and men gathered around Stephen, stoning him to death. I guess it was like a public execution. There would be blood on Saul's hands. 

“Then he fell on his knees and cried out, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ When he had said this, he fell asleep. And Saul was there, giving approval to his death.” Acts 7:60

However, a sacrifice never seems to go unnoticed to God. 

“But the Lord said to Ananias, ‘Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.’” Acts 9:15-16

Life for life. It is as if Stephens sacrifice was directly related to the calling of Paul. From life to death, yet life after death. Though Stephen would no longer be breathing, it is as if his life has transferred onto Saul, changing him into Paul that many now know. 


"I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." John 12:24