WATCHWORD:
1 Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers. So he went to the high priest. 2 He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains. 3 As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?” 5 “Who are you, lord?” Saul asked. Acts 9:1-5
1 There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. 2 After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.” 3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” 4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” 5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. 7 So don’t be surprised when I say, you must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.” John 3:1-8
Meditation:
You Are a Miracle
Have you ever considered yourself a miracle? I mean, a living, breathing, walking around this planet, miracle?
Do you believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of your life? Yes? Well, then, you are a miracle, because belief in Jesus is a miracle produced through redemption, by the sheer, unaided power of God.
Let’s see. In Saul’s case, redemption came through a powerful lightning-strike of God’s presence. A miracle that knocked Saul off his…donkey…and into Paul, the apostle extraordinaire. The sheer power of God.
What if I said that we all get knocked off our donkeys through the power of God. We even get a name-change: Christian. Oh, our Damascus Road experience may not be as dramatic as Saul’s, we may even call it ‘born-again’, but at its core, it is the same. We have different gifts, talents, etc. This life that we are in the midst of is a dazzling quilt of many colors, many heroes, many attitudes, many personalities, many shades of God’s gifts. All making up the Life that God has made, and we rejoice and are glad in it.
In God’s plan there is no discrimination, jealousy, envy, self-serving, among those who have truly been knocked off their donkeys into this new being called a Christian life.
Oswald Chambers says “There is nothing miraculous or mysterious about the things we can explain. We control what we are able to explain, consequently it is only natural to seek an explanation for everything. It’s not natural to obey, and it is not necessarily sinful to disobey…one may view the other person’s disobedience as freedom.”
In Jesus’ day, to be Jewish is to obey the 613 laws established under Mosaic Law, and the wisdom of the Pharisees. To disobey could lead to separation. Not so for those who have been “knocked off their donkeys” where disobedience could lead to God’s forgiveness.
Chambers goes on to say, “A person is simply a slave for obeying, unless behind his obedience is the recognition of a holy God. Many people begin coming to God once they stop being religious, because there is only one master of the human heart–Jesus Christ, not religion.
Don’t miss “a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him”. The Light of Jesus touching Saul. It makes no difference to God’s grace what an abomination I am, if I will only come to the Light.
So, get on your feet, dust yourself off, and, as John Wayne would say: “Drink your milk, pilgrim, and get back on your horse,” and be a daughter/brother to Christ. Amen.
Stan
Bulletin Board:
A Pledge: (Found in Our Daily Bread for Sunday) After a young boy faced some challenges in school, his dad began to teach him a pledge to recite each morning before school: “I thank God for waking me up today. I am going to school so I can learn…and be the leader that God has created me to be.”
There is something in that pledge for all of us. Thanking God for the day, and asking Him to lead us closer to the person He created us to be.
Closing Prayer:
“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, will I trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. Amen. Thomas Merton
