Look what God put in my back yard. Okay I stuck the cutting in the ground and watered but God made it grow. We plant and do all we can to help but it is God who makes it grow. Same way with our witness. We plant seeds and God makes them grow.
Paul is soooooo grateful. He is grateful to God for finally hitting him over the head with the old proverbial 2 x 4. He knows he was a sinner and he knows he is forgiven. You see Paul was the guy that wanted to persecute the followers of Jesus. He was the guy that loved his job and took his responsibility very seriously. Hunting down those of “the way” was the most important thing he could possibly be doing. He probably found prestige in his ability to relentlessly pursue and hunt down innocent peaceful people. But the other thing he found was that those innocent peaceful people were people filled with the Holy Spirit and were no doubt witnessing to Paul about Jesus and His love for each of us.
You see it is no stretch of my imagination to see Paul gathering up Christians and having them beaten, tortured or worse. But it had to weigh on him and soften his heart somewhere in those deep recesses. Then on that road to Damascus, wham, Jesus winds up with that 2 x 4 and smacks him hard enough to knock him off his horse and temporarily blind him. Jesus knew when Paul was ready to see the light. He knows when you and I are ready and he is waiting for us to soften our hearts with His Spirit and others witness to us of Him in their lives.
What a great scene it is when a Paul gets knocked of his horse by Jesus Christ. But remember Jesus needs us to be His witness, we soften them up and when the time is right Jesus finishes them off. He saves each of us the same way, with His Love. Live in His Spirit so the world will see who He is to you. That’s our business and it is our life work. Be kind, be at peace and be at witnessing.
Have a blessed day/night and weekend,
Randy
Wesley United Methodist Church, Orange TX 
September 10, 2010 at 9:21 pm |
Good message. I check my mail every day to see what you have written.
This single rose is beautiful but you will have to take a picture when it is a big bush and see how many are on one stem.