4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
Most of us will not have to be blinded like Paul in order to come to know Jesus. For most of us it will be a gradual realization of him and his promise of eternal life as well as a better understanding of just who God is. For Paul, it was dramatic, for the rest of us it’s pretty tame. But regardless of the way we come to know Jesus, we have to have a conversion of heart and a willingness to grow in faith. Paul needed to be open to growth and taking instruction from someone with more knowledge than he had – and he considered himself well versed in the Scriptures.
No matter how long we have followed Christ and how much we have studied the Bible, we will never know and understand everything that God has for us to learn. We need to continue to study and learn until the day we die and where all will be revealed to us. Whether we study alone or with a group, or take a course, it is important to continue our journey. It is also important to put our faith into action.
Once Paul understood the importance of Jesus’ message, he felt compelled to share it. And it’s a good thing for us that he did! If Paul had not been rejected by the Jews for his past persecution of those who had become Christian, he would not have reached out to the Gentiles. Christianity may have become a Jewish sect rather than a religion on its own. It is our place to be available to others who may come to know Jesus by being willing to be Christ in our world and to share our reasons for believing.
Lord, we thank you for bringing Paul to faith in you and for his willingness to preach your word among the Gentiles. Help us to spread our faith by the witness of our lives. Amen.
