4 “As the Jewish leaders are well aware, I was given a thorough Jewish training from my earliest childhood among my own people and in Jerusalem. 5 If they would admit it, they know that I have been a member of the Pharisees, the strictest sect of our religion.
Acts of the Apostles 26:4-5
9 “I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the very name of Jesus the Nazarene.10 Indeed, I did just that in Jerusalem. Authorized by the leading priests, I caused many believers there to be sent to prison. And I cast my vote against them when they were condemned to death.
ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 26:9-10
12 “One day I was on such a mission to Damascus, armed with the authority and commission of the leading priests. 13 About noon, Your Majesty, as I was on the road, a light from heaven brighter than the sun shone down on me and my companions.
ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 26:12-13
19 “And so, King Agrippa, I obeyed that vision from heaven. 20 I preached first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that all must repent of their sins and turn to God—and prove they have changed by the good things they do. 21 Some Jews arrested me in the Temple for preaching this, and they tried to kill me. 22 But God has protected me right up to this present time so I can testify to everyone, from the least to the greatest. I teach nothing except what the prophets and Moses said would happen— 23 that the Messiah would suffer and be the first to rise from the dead, and in this way announce God’s light to Jews and Gentiles alike.”
ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 26:19-23
God created us to be in families, and these families to be in communities, and these communities in turn to belong to local churches. He is quite intentional about this — that we should all love one another, uphold one another in love, and live together in harmony.
In His wisdom, God put us in this big, wide, wonderful, wacky, weird world, and it is here that we are to live out the calling He set upon us – to love Him above all else, and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.
But because life is a beautiful mess sometimes, it’s hard to live out that calling. It’s hard to be good, when there are so many things around us tempting us to be bad. So many distractions! Shiny objects as far as the eye can see…
Take this story from the life of Paul for example. Paul used to reject Jesus, but then he was converted, and he started to serve him with his entire life. That’s not an exaggeration. Paul changed his entire life — his name, his career, his living conditions, his personal identity, his comfort — everything, in order to answer Jesus’ calling. He had to forget everything that he believed in, disavow all that he held dear, all for Jesus.
And in the midst of his faithfulness, right smack in the middle of his ministry, he gets slapped with this — a trial for him to defend his beliefs. Talk about red tape. Instead of being allowed to get on with the work, he had to stop it to address all the accusations that were laid out before him.
Paul was really someone special. God gave him a heart that was a patient and kind, and a mind that was clear and focused. He never wavered. They called him crazy, they said he was out of his mind, but he still he kept to his principles and never lost sight of his goal.
Even during his trial, he was still evangelising! Right when he was supposed to be defending himself, he was still trying to lead others to God.
God, I pray for this kind of intense, laser like focus! Eyes on the prize at all times. My head set in the game, my heart set on the goal, my life set on completing the good work.
It’s a wide, wonderful, wacky, world indeed. Good thing we have an equally wide, wonderful, and wacky God to guide as through it.
“Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces.”
Psalms 34:5 NLT
