……….…… P .. A .. U .. L …………….
RStarbuck, November 30, 2012
…..What an amazing human being! Brought up under the Old Covenant – the Mosaic Law – he pursued what he felt needed to be done, the extermination of the enemy, i.e., Christians. Can any of us imagine how he felt upon meeting Jesus in person – years after the Lord’s resurrection from the grave? If it had been me, I don’t know but I think I might have fainted dead away! A lot of good I would have been, right? Dead as a doornail! But I digress.
…..Jesus asked Paul why he was persecuting Him. You see, persecuting Christ’s followers was tantamount to persecuting Him. Paul suddenly found himself completely blind and needed to be guided back into the town where he miraculously got his sight back. Here’s where this story begins:
…..Paul was so profoundly smitten by his encounter with the Lord that it sustained him through unrelenting attacks on his person. Everywhere he went, Paul and his accomplices were severely beaten and/or stoned to within an inch of their lives and then imprisoned – all as a deterrent to their spreading Christianity.
…..What is most astonishing is the sheer joy Paul found in doing the Lord’s bidding without question. If Jesus had said “Jump!”, Paul would have said “How high?” He did everything at a level of ebullience that must have caused onlookers to conclude that he was insane. He was insanely in love with his Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus. Oh, how I long to have that degree of trust. Nothing else mattered to Paul: he was so humbled by being chosen to carry out his purpose in God’s plan.
…..The trials and tribulations that Paul faced daily were but “a light affliction” to him. Just one of the abuses he endured would have been a major Deal Breaker for me, but Paul goes around singing hymns and praising God.
…..This brings me to the real part of this story that I was hoping to impress you with: I’m really reluctant to tell you what it is because you are Bound To misconstrue it and miss a hugely important fact of Christianity: I ‘GET’ Paul. There, I said it. I get him. Flogged, beaten, stoned were of no event to him. He didn’t even have to pray that the stones might be softer in the next town that he was going to. After all, Stephen, the very first martyr, had had the distinct honor of seeing Jesus standing in front of him as he was being stoned to death. Paul would have changed places with Stephen in a heartbeat to die and be with God, but was quite content to stick with his divine assignment. And now we all have the Apostle Paul to thank for the better part of the New Testament.