Monday, May 14, 2007

Paul 1.8

But then God chose to reveal His Son to me. I was nearing Damascus when a bright light shone on me from heaven. It was so bright that it blinded me for a time, until a believer named Ananias laid hands on me.

I have struggled with eye problems ever since. My eyes are a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan sent to torment me. Although I have often asked the Lord to heal me, I believe He has let the problem remain so that I will remember that God is my strength and that I am weak. My weakness is made perfect in His strength.

In my blindness, I heard the voice of Jesus calling to me, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" I was so confused. All that time I thought I was the perfect servant of the Lord. I kept the Jewish Law blamelessly. I never violated any of the traditions of the elders but kept them all perfectly. I would have to wrestle with this fact deeply. If I was not at peace with God, then surely no one was by their keeping of the Law. Righteousness must come from a completely different path.
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2 comments:

Keith Drury said...

Dear Paul,

1. You may be interested to know that your "messenger from Satan to keep you humble" is now sometimes used by Christians as applied to sin, not physical ailments. That is, a significant number of Christians up here think that God leaves some sins in a believer's life to keep them humble and more reliant on him and that overcoming sin is thus impossible.

2. Also, we wonder if you consider the moment of your conversion the very moment when Ananias laid hands on you and you received the Holy Spirit or were you directly converted one-to-won by Christ on the road? Or don't you even ask such questions?

3. Some up here say you had no personal act of the will in your conversion--that is was not a choice at all but forced on you by god. The rest of us say that you submitted to Ananias and the Lord following your shining light experience and thus could have refused grace... I don't know what you'd say to this but we wonder about such things up here in the 21st century.

2:47 PM
Angie Van De Merwe said...

The religious are blind to the "higher order" of things. They think that religion pleases God, hence their "sacrifices". God isn't interested in sacrifices, but a commitment to others made in His image, humanity.

Paul, thinking he was keeping the faith "pure" stoned Stephen. But, Stephen's character revealed Paul's heart for what it was, prejuidiced and self satisfied. Instead of seeking to bless others, as God had desired Israel to do,Paul used Judiasm to bring him "identity". Whenever our identity is caught up in a "group mentality"(religion) and not on who we are innately created to be/do, then we are threatened and we seek to destroy the "difference" of the "other". I believe that those in this state are those "under Law" (as culturally determined) and their view of God is as a "step-father".

It is only when there is a "revelation" of God, that a religious person understands more fully that identity is a cultural product and can then seek to understand others whose identity is different from theirs and accept them for who they are without feeling threatened and allow a dialogal relationship on the "transcendent", who is above any relgion. (Although I might add, that it behooves those who are being "persecuted" to understand and be "wise" in how they handle thier persecutors.)

2:55 PM

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