Alive - by Dave Smith

sanctified by faith in me’ (Acts 26:17–18).
Faithful to this calling, Paul went on to spread the good news of
Jesus and planted churches from Syria to Turkey and from Greece to
Italy. His three missionary journeys displayed a remarkable sense of
power and courage in the cause of Christ, ending up (as he had been
before) in prison – this time at the heart of the empire, in Rome. But
Paul’s future legacy has in many ways been greater than his lifetime
achievements. He is credited with writing (or influencing) 13 of the 26
books of the New Testament and around half of the book of Acts is
written about him. Put simply, apart from Jesus, there has never been
a more important and influential leader in Christian history – someone
who, through his travels and his writings, had the single greatest
impact on the spread of early Christianity. As the good news
advanced and the Church grew, the world was forever changed! 22
You and I may not have same global, history-transforming impact,
but we are all called to make a significant difference with the one life
that we’ve been given.
The question is: how do we go about discovering our own unique life
pathway? There is so much that could be said about this, but here
are four pointers for you to consider. 23
• RECOGNISE YOUR UNIQUENESS
Put simply, there’s never going to be another you! Just as you have a
unique set of fingerprints, so you have a specific combination of: your
personality; your background; your life experiences; your passions
and your spiritual gifts, all of which makes you, you. One of the
freeing aspects of knowing this is that, while we can and should be
inspired by other people’s life journeys, we don’t need to fall into the
trap of comparing ourselves with others – something we explored in
Chapter Four.