About Face
Acts 26:9-23
"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."
(PSALM 51:10)
You've heard of an "aha!" moment, that instant when something stops a person and makes him reassess and possibly change directions.
Saul, following in his father's footsteps, was the quintessential Pharisee, describing himself as "a Hebrew of Hebrews," born into the tribe of Benjamin, circumcised on the eighth day, faultless in following the Law (Philippians 3:4-6). With these credentials, he was passionate about trying to eradicate the new church of Jesus.
But God had other plans for Saul. From birth, God "set Saul apart" (Galatians 1:15) as His "chosen instrument" (Acts 9:15) to bring the message of salvation to the non-Jewish world. God literally stopped Saul in his tracks and turned him around, 180 degrees.
Just as with Saul, God intervenes in our self-directed lives today revealing the love of Jesus, and offering us new life. Then we, like Saul, become a new creation, on a new path, in a new direction, led by Him. The "aha!" moment becomes an "aha!" life which marvels at Jesus' hold on us.
INSIGHT
"ONE INDIVIDUAL LIFE MAY BE OF PRICELESS VALUE TO GOD'S PURPOSES, AND YOURS MAY BE THAT LIFE." (OSWALD CHAMBERS)
READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Nehemiah 7
Psalm 34
Mark 13
Acts 26:9-23
New International Version (NIV)
9 “I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord’s people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. 11 Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities.
12 “On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 13 About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. 14 We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic,[a] ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’
15 “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’
“ ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. 16 ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. 17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
19 “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. 20 First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds. 21 That is why some Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me. 22 But God has helped me to this very day; so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen — 23 that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles.”
Footnotes:
a. Acts 26:14 Or Hebrew
MORE THAN GOLD
Throughout history gold has represented success, victory and wealth. Olympians dedicate years of their lives to win it. Yet the Bible says it will perish. Is there anything that truly lasts forever?
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