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You don't have to have been there from the beginning to encounter the God who was.
There's a man in the Bible who never sat at the table with Jesus. Never watched him give sight to the blind. Never felt the mist off the Sea of Galilee when the storm went still. Never leaned on his chest at the Last Supper. He wasn't there for the Sermon on the Mount. He didn't stand at the foot of the cross.
And yet — this same man wrote more of the New Testament than any other author. His theological influence shaped the church more profoundly than any of the twelve disciples who did walk with Jesus.
His name is Paul.
Paul met Jesus on a road. And when he met him, he wasn't looking for him. He wasn't seeking. He was on his way to destroy the early church — arrest warrants in hand, Steven's blood still fresh on his conscience. And yet, right there, in the middle of his mess, love showed up.
He didn't get three years of mentorship. He got three days of blindness. And from that single encounter, he produced a body of theology so deep that many consider him the most influential Christian thinker who ever lived.
Why? Because there is a difference between proximity and revelation.
"Proximity says, 'I saw what he did.' But revelation says, 'I understand why he did it.' Proximity says, 'I watched him love people.' But revelation says, 'I know that he is love.'" — Pastor Terrence Sims
You can be close to something and still not understand it. You can be in the room and still miss the point. The twelve disciples had access that Paul never had — and yet Paul's revelation of who Jesus is runs deeper than almost anything written by someone who walked with him in the flesh. That's not an insult to the disciples. That's a word for the rest of us.
This is a word for somebody who came to faith late. For the person who feels like they missed the beginning of the story. For anyone who has ever thought: I wasn't raised in church. I don't know enough. I don't have the right background to really know God. God is saying to you today: you don't need to have walked with Jesus to know who Jesus is. You need an encounter. You need revelation.
Paul's authority didn't come from résumé. It came from encountering a love so radical — so completely unearned and unexpected — that it reorganized his entire life. And from that encounter, he built the theological architecture we find in the book of Romans. Before he ever addresses your struggle, he establishes this: you are already justified. You are already at peace. You are already standing in grace.
Not because you earned it. Not because you got it together. But because — as he writes in Romans 5:8 — while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Not after you cleaned up. Not after you stopped doing the thing you keep doing. While you were still in the middle of it.
That's not just theology. That's personal for Paul. God didn't wait for him to stop persecuting the church. Love came while Paul was still dangerous to the kingdom. And that radical, unconditional love became the foundation for everything else.
Here's the truth to carry with you: Love is the root. Everything else is the fruit. You cannot truly know love without knowing God, because God doesn't just have love — God is love. His holiness is what love looks like when it refuses anything less than the best for you. His justice is what love looks like when it confronts the systems that try to crush you. His sovereignty is love reminding you that nothing can overpower the One committed to your flourishing.
You don't need to have been there from the beginning. You just need to encounter Him now. The revelation is just as powerful as the proximity — and it's available to you today.
Reflect on This
What would it look like this week to move from knowing about God to actually encountering God? And is there a place in your life where you've been waiting to feel "ready" before fully stepping into what He's called you to?
Ready to grow in your revelation of God?
