The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in Philippians 4:17,
"Not that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account."
Enough can not be said about the change we see in the heart of a man named Saul. This comment of Paul's manifests to us so much about what the Lord had done in his heart.
Saul was present at the stoning of the first martyr of the church, Stephen. He was there taking an official role. In his hatred of the church he persecuted men and women and had them imprisoned. He claims to have been a blasphemer and a violent man, 1 Timothy 1:13.
Then he met someone who changed his life forever - the risen Jesus Christ. Upon his conversion he took a new direction in his life and the evidence of his salvation became clear. The presence of the Holy Spirit changed him from within and Saul, now called Paul, began to manifest the wonderful qualities of the Lord himself.
Paul makes clear that the change within him was something the Holy Spirit brought about, not some kind of re-making of himself as people attempt to do today in so many ways. The evidence of his desire for his Philippian readers and their welfare makes clear Paul was a changed man, a change characterized by love.
But he was an apostle, hand picked by the Lord. So, we dismiss the changes in his life as something only an apostle might expect to experience. I'm not an apostle, how can I expect to see this dynamic in my life?
Is this what we are taught in the Scriptures? Not at all. Paul himself tells us he is but an example of what we all should be seeing in our lives, what we should be focused on, Philippians 3:17. In Romans 8:9-10 we are told we have the Spirit just as Paul did. In fact, he tells us there that if we don't, then we don't belong to Jesus Christ.
The same Holy Spirit that changed Paul from within desires to the very same thing with us, each and every one of us. In Galatians 5:22-25 we read, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit."
Far from dismissing for myself what I see in Paul's life, I need to recognize that he modeled for me what the life of a believer should look like - what I should cultivate in my life by embracing what the Holy Spirit is doing within me.
Doesn't the Lord do wonderful things? Even with somebody like me!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
No comments:
Post a Comment