Itโs a long one. I hope youโll bear with meโฆ Godโs been tickling me with growth lately and I got excited to share it with yโall!ย
Thatโs a funny way to describe it. I wonder if you know what I mean by โtickling me with growthโ? Those times you can feel Heโs working on something in you but you canโt tell exactly what it is Heโs doing or what direction Heโs headed. Or, rather, what direction Heโs got you headed. Like being tickled, youโre not sure you like it but youโre not sure you donโt like it either.
An idea of what He was working on started firming up in me last week. Itโs an idea weโve heard a million times but I still struggle to implement in my own life, in my own psyche: Stress is bad. Know what else? I propose to you that stress is the opposite of faith. Think on thatโฆ Stress is the opposite of faith. When we start stressing, itโs because we are predicting the probability of one outcome over another. We start relying on probabilities and statistics calculated in our own fallible weakness, rather than relying on faith in Godโs plan. God has so much more up His sleeve than my brain could possibly account for but I still try to rely on my own puny logic.
I happened to be reading Acts 9 the other night. Turns out thatโs the chapter when Saul becomes Paul. Letโs look at that transformation from the eyes of an early disciple in Damascus:ย
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๐๐ข๐ถ๐ญ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ท๐ช๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ, ๐ข ๐ท๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ถ๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ. ๐๐ฐ๐ต ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐จ๐ฐ, ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ต๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ, ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ (๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ, ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ, ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ดโ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ). ๐๐ต๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏโ๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ธ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ-๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ถ๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ. ๐๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ถ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ง๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ด ๐ช๐ด. ๐๐ข๐ถ๐ญ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ฅ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ถ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ, ๐ฉ๐ฆโ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ถ๐ด. ๐๐ฆโ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ข๐ด๐ค๐ถ๐ด!ย ย
๐๐บ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ. ๐๐ด ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ด ๐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ข๐ด ๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ, ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐๐ต๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ! ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ, ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ! ๐๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ! ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ? ๐๐ง ๐ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ข๐ด๐ค๐ถ๐ด, ๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐๐ต๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ. ๐๐ง ๐ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฏ, ๐๐ข๐ถ๐ญ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐โ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฉ๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ. ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐บ, ๐โ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ. ๐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐จ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต, ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ, ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.ย ย
๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต ๐๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ด๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐๐ต๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ, ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ! ๐๐ฉ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ? ๐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐโฆ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ. ๐ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐บ. ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ตโ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ.ย ย
๐๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต, ๐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐บ ๐ข ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅโ๐ด ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ด ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ, ๐โ๐ฎ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ. ๐โ๐ฎ ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ข๐ต ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐โ๐ฎ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ง๐ข๐ต๐ฆ. ๐๐ต ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ.ย ย
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆโ๐ด ๐ข ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ โ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ช๐ต? ๐๐ข๐ถ๐ญ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ! ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐! ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ. ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ช๐ต, ๐ฉ๐ฆโ๐ด ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ญ๐บ, ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฃ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ?! ๐๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ, ๐๐ข๐ถ๐ญ! ๐๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ด ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ข๐ด๐ค๐ถ๐ด? ๐๐ข๐ฉ! ๐๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ถ๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ! ๐๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ถ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ง๐ข๐ด๐ต! ๐๐ตโ๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ถ๐ญ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ถ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆโ๐ด ๐ข ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ, ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆโ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ!ย ย
๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ... ๐๐ฉโฆ ๐ ๐จ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต, ๐ช๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต. ๐๐ด๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐๐ช๐ค๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ - ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ? ๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ, ๐ช๐ง ๐๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ข๐ด ๐ท๐ฐ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐จ๐ถ๐บ, ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ข ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ. ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ, ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถโ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ณ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ฆ? ๐โ๐ฎ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐บ ๐ช๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ. ๐๐ตโ๐ด ๐ข ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ง๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ. ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ. ๐๐บ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต, ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ญ, ๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ...
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At least, thatโs probably how I would have reacted had I been an early disciple in Damascus. If God can take a situation as dire as Saul coming into town for the express intent of persecution and turn it around, then what events in my life could possibly indicate a future set in stone? I sincerely believe I wouldโve predicted my impending death when Saul started on the road to Damascus. I wouldโve been wrong. If God can choose the man with the hardest heart towards His people and use him to become one of the most prominent voices in our Christian history, then what possibilities exist in my life that my logical brain is missing? I certainly never would have thought to pick Saul for the job.
I read this chapter just after midnight, 2017. My thoughts were swirling with all the implications of what God had just revealed but, mostly, I kept thinking that this demonstration of faith is where we find our strength and that strength is where we reflect Jesus to the world around us. In this way, we reflect His Gospel both to fellow believers and to those who donโt know Him, so that they, too, can ease their burdens relying on His strength. I decided then that I would write this blog. Not that night, though โ I was too tired.
The next morning at church, Brother Stephen read Ephesians 3:1-11 to us.ย
ยท Know who wrote Ephesians? โฆ Paul.ย
ยท Know what heโs talking about in Ephesians 3? โฆ. Sharing the Gospel.ย
ยท Know what basis Paul gives for that being his purpose? โฆ His transformation on the road to Damascus.ย
ยท Do I have to tell you that my head spun?ย
My notes from that sermon include lots of exclamation points and the following words: โEphesians points me from Paulโs miraculous transformation to Jesusโs salvation of Gentiles along with Israel. Extending salvation to the Gentiles was also a miracle!โ Brother Stephenโs message that morning (my summation, not his) was to challenge us to resolve to share the Gospel, not just for the new year but every day in every year. Godโs assignment to Paul after his transformation is still our assignment today so that more people may discover a life with Christ โ along with the joy in the faith and strength that comes with that life.ย
I offer you one last note I made during that sermon. Brother Stephen said, โIn remembrance of Godโs mighty acts in Jesus Christ [the miraculous gift of His Son], we offer ourselves as a sacrifice.โ It wonโt always be easy to turn a blind eye to logic and rely on faith. It will take much strength at times to trust Godโs plan. But that is both the sacrifice and the gift. To refuse our own logic and our own fear is sacrifice, which we offer in gratitude for His gift so He can use us to reach others and which we offer with trust because our God has proven His might so many times. How much more evidence does our logic need to submit to faith?
(1st published January 1, 2017)
