To be honest, my knowledge of the bible is very little. I have never taken the time to dive in and really learn. You can't grow if you don't learn, so that's what I did this week and this is what I learned....
I started in Galatians 1 and 2 and then moved over to Acts 9....here's what I've got so far....
My opinion of Paul, before this week, was that he was like Jesus's right hand man....you know, was "there", had reached the mark...and even though I knew he had a former life that was not so great, I still thought Paul was "special"....not like us normal people that have to work and strive so hard to grow in our relationship with Christ. I thought it was easy for Paul.
(It's amazing what a little reading and little studying will do for your perceptions and knowledge)
So in Acts 9, Saul is out to destroy christians. Then the Lord shows up, throws Saul to his knees, blinds him, and sends him to the city to wait. (I am dying to know what is going through his mind during this time)
Then there is this unknown, insignificant (by the world's standards) disciple named Ananias. The Lord, in a vision...not in person, but in a vision tells Ananias to go to Saul, touch him, and restore his sight. Now, I am really dying to know what's going through this guy's mind....how about, "YEAH RIGHT LORD, the second he sees me he's going to want to kill me!!" The Lord says, "GO!" So Ananias obeyed....not fully knowing that this ONE simple act of obedience would change the world. ---sidenote--- How many times as christians do we look at people and think they are way to dangerous, or way to lost, or way to "not like us" for us to obey God and reach out to them. We don't do it because we are scared, or uncomfortable, or whatever the reason may be....one simple act of obedience can change EVERYTHING....and the worst person out there could possibly be the future of God's plan...but we don't know until we obey.
Fortunately for Ananias it all worked out, he obeyed, and Saul was restored and conformed...forever. Nothing else is mentioned of Ananias (which is driving me crazy, because I would love to know if he ever found out exactly how God used Saul..now known as Paul.
Why did God choose Paul? Why not choose someone who wanted to do the Lord's work? Because...WOW...if God can use someone like Paul...who hated him, hated christians, arrested christians, murdered christians...then think of how he can use me, or us! THIS is what God's grace can do!
So then I ask myself, well how long did it take for Paul to start preaching and spreading the gospel? I mean, did he sit and dwell on all the horrible things he did, and have a pity party for himself b/c God is so Holy and he is so unworthy? I don't know if the bible discusses that anywhere, but what it does say is that AT ONCE Paul started preaching in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. (Acts 9:20) That right there is how it should be done. You sin, God forgives, God restores, You GO!
So what about Paul's past? I mean how in the world did he move forward preaching God's Word with such a reputation of hating and killing christians? Obviously he had to show by example, people had to see the fruit. But he also talked. He had to share his testimony repeatedly so they would believe him and follow Christ. Paul gave his testimony to a crowd of angry Jews (Acts 22:1-2), to the Roman governor Felix (24: 10-21), to King Agrippa (26:1-23), and to multitudes of people who questioned him in Rome (28: 17-29). I realized here that yes, once Christ changes your life, people want to see your actions, they have to see your fruit(Gal 5:22), but they also have to HEAR what Christ has done to fully understand what is going on.
Now my last observation on Paul this week is that he was Saul as a Jew and then became Paul once he was converted to Christianity. My question was why. My first thought was because the name Saul was distracting people from hearing the gospel. So many people knew of his past and knew what he had done, that they seemed more interested in hating him and wanting to kill him than they were in listening to what he had to say (Acts. 9:29) Maybe if he started going by Paul, people would hear the gospel before they had time to realize who he was. Now my bible says in the sidebar, "Like many Jews, Paul had two names, one Jewish (Saul) and the other Graeco-Roman (Paul). Just as immigrants today sometimes change their names to assimilate with their new land, so Paul began to use his Graeco-Roman name as his missionary team moved into Gentile territory." I would like more information on this topic.
So it's been a deep week! LOL My opinion of Paul is not the same.... Yes, he was special....but so are we...and there's no way it was easy for him...but he knew that was his calling and nothing else mattered, so he persevered and set his mind on the goal. What a testimony!
