Like or not, Christians today need to consider what it takes to win over a pagan land.
St. Patrick–who died on March 17, 461 AD–can help us with this.
It is said St. Patrick found Ireland all heathen and left it all Christian.
How did he do it?
Three keys from his life give us a good idea…
Grace
St. Patrick became a Christian as a young man while serving as a slave in Ireland.
By grace, he not only softened his heart toward God, but also his captors…
And he came to serve them as a missionary for thirty years.
Those Patrick ministered to were vile and oppressive.
Yet due to his own experience with grace, he was able to draw near to repulsive people… and believed they too could be transformed.
Boldness
The grace and love St. Patrick received from God also took away his fears. And made him a bold man.
At one pagan festival it was forbidden for anyone to light a fire.
So what did Patrick do?
He lit a huge fire on a hill that illuminated the entire countryside.
And this bold action strengthened the faith of many new believers.
Spiritual Warfare
St. Patrick did not take his encounters with evil lightly.
He knew he was dealing with spiritual warfare.
So he made it his practice to walk daily with God, covered in the armor He provides (Eph. 6:10-20).
Patrick took this so seriously He would sing a song called the Lorica (meaning breastplate) to help him depend on God and live under His protection.
You can see lyrics of this song set to music here:
As pagan values afflict our own land…
And as they demoralize the hearts of those who love God and His ways…
It’s a good time to recall how the Lord used one man to transform people who seemed unredeemable.
And there can hardly be a better way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day than to…
Enjoy some corned beef, with perhaps a pint of Guinness…
And ponder how to apply Patrick’s principles of grace, boldness and spiritual warfare to our own day.
