Thursday, February 7, 2019
Afterward he ate some food and regained his strength. Saul stayed with the believers in Damascus for a few days. And immediately he began preaching about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is indeed the Son of God!” All who heard him were amazed. “Isn’t this the same man who caused such devastation among Jesus’ followers in Jerusalem?” they asked. “And didn’t he come here to arrest them and take them in chains to the leading priests?” Saul’s preaching became more and more powerful, and the Jews in Damascus couldn’t refute his proofs that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. After a while some of the Jews plotted together to kill him. They were watching for him day and night at the city gate so they could murder him, but Saul was told about their plot. So during the night, some of the other believers lowered him in a large basket through an opening in the city wall. Acts 9:19-25(NLT)
Recently one of the rages on
Facebook has been the 20-year challenge.
You post a picture of you from the turn of the century next to a recent
one. How have the years been for
you? We see the differences…new hair (or
less), Botox, happier or the other? And certainly,
the weight thing…ok, let’s leave that one alone!
With the Apostle Paul (who was
originally named Saul) the change didn’t take 20 years; the transformation was
night and day in a week. Saul had been
the religious zealot, foaming at the mouth variety, angry enough to be the
chief persecutor of the early church.
But when he met Jesus on the Damascus Road, the blinding light changed
everything about the way the newly named Paul would see things…and do
things. He saw clearly for the first
time in his life that Jesus was indeed the Christ, the Messiah sent from
Heaven. And then he changed what he did,
from persecuting the people of the Gospel, to preaching the Lord of the Gospel. And therein we find the power of God in that
Gospel.
Often people think being a Christian
is about becoming part of a certain denomination, Methodist, Presbyterian, Catholic. Or going through a ceremony with all the
right hoops, baptism, membership class in a church. Or getting rid of all the bad habits and becoming
a nice person who helps old ladies across the street and refrains from kicking
the dog, or gambling with rent money.
Some make the mistake of imagining
becoming a Christian is simply like changing your political affiliation – it’s
all about the politics of left, right, or resistance. Perhaps the most dangerous is the idea that
it’s all about a heart change – that exhilarating roller-coaster emotional cataclysm
of repenting in a revival meeting…from hell-bound sinner, to heaven-bound
saint.
Truth be told, it’s all of those;
at least, all of those contain elements of what coming to Christ is like. It is like three blind persons placed on
three sides of an elephant report what they think an elephant looks like. One standing at the side calls it a great
wall, the second, touching the front leg describes it as a tree trunk, and the
third, reaching out and finding the tail, dubs the elephant a scaly rope. All three were right, but incomplete; there’s
more to any elephant than one dimension.
Such is the case with coming to Christ.
So, how can I tell if I have
really become a genuine Christian? Is
there a test? Will there be a mark of
some sort? How can I know? Largely the answer is pretty simple, found in
this simple question: Has
your life changed? Consider
the worm Saul, who became the butterfly, Paul:
· It included but was more than a mountain-top emotional
moment.
· It included but was more than joining up with the church family.
· It included but was more than the words coming out of his mouth.
· It included, but was more than being nicer, helping others,
or politics.
If you study the life of Paul before,
and after coming to Christ, you’ll notice that every step towards God included
a growth of Christ in Paul, and a loosening of Paul’s control on Paul. For Paul, and for anyone who would truly want
to respond to Christ’s gracious gift of salvation, coming to Christ means loving
God, and choosing to obey God by serving others. It’s a transformation God works in us when
His Spirit gets bigger in us, as we get more submissive to Him.
For You Today
Paul was in favor of examining
this question – am I really a Christian?
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