By Dr. Rhansyl Harris

When I graduated from high school, I went to the prestigious Tuskegee University in Alabama. I was only there for a year, but it was the best time of my life because I learned so much about the goodness, greatness, grandeur, and grace of God. It was there that I made the decision to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Wretchedness to Righteousness

Now, let’s be honest, we don’t deserve to serve in the positions that we are in because of who we were during our BC (Before Christ) days. I know I don’t! That is why grace is so amazing to me because through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, our status moved from wretchedness to righteousness in an instant! 

God’s grace does not stop at saving us from Hell. His undeserved love is not just to give us a one-way ticket to Heaven. The grace of God is also God being so kind as to convict us about our lifestyle, connect us with godly people, and cultivate us through the church for the work of the ministry. 

How Sweet the Sound

Saul, that talented tentmaker from Tarsus, would know about the amazing grace of God. He was one who had the self-righteous mission of tearing down the church. He was one of the most notorious men noted in the Bible. If ever there was an Alphonse Gabriel “Al” Capone or a Theodore Robert “Ted” Bundy of the ancient world, it would be Saul. However, his life instantly changed the day he went to persecute the believers at the First Christian Church of Damascus. On that dusty road, he was confronted by Jesus about his baneful lifestyle of serial killing, connected to a mature believer with sight, and cultivated by the Damascene church for the work of the ministry. 

Grace is amazing because we all have Saul-ish tendencies where we have the proclivity to persecute the church (our sisters and brothers in Christ) with our words, deeds, and unforgiving attitudes. Paul understood this undeserved love and decided to preach it, not just to the Gentiles, but to his own brothers and sisters in Christ (the church). 

Dr. Rhansyl Harris is the Lead Pastor of the Rock Church of Cincinnati, Ohio, and adjunct instructor at Cincinnati Christian University. Rhansyl has been joyously married to Shirley for over 16 years, and they are blessed with two children, son, Ryan, and daughter, Raegan.