The Daily Guide-The Daily Devotional grow. pray. study. from The Resurrection United Methodist Church in Leawood, Kansas, United States for Thursday, 8 October 2015 - "Paul chosen to change the world"
Daily Scripture: Acts 9:1 Meanwhile, Sha’ul, still breathing murderous threats against the Lord’s talmidim, went to the cohen hagadol 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Dammesek, authorizing him to arrest any people he might find, whether men or women, who belonged to “the Way,” and bring them back to Yerushalayim.
3 He was on the road and nearing Dammesek, when suddenly a light from heaven flashed all around him. 4 Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Sha’ul! Sha’ul! Why do you keep persecuting me?” 5 “Sir, who are you?” he asked. “I am Yeshua, and you are persecuting me. 6 But get up, and go into the city, and you will be told what you have to do.”
10 There was a talmid in Dammesek, Hananyah by name; and in a vision the Lord said to him, “Hananyah!” He said, “Here I am, Lord.” 11 The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to Straight Street, to Y’hudah’s house; and ask for a man from Tarsus named Sha’ul; for he is praying, 12 and in a vision he has seen a man named Hananyah coming in and placing his hands on him to restore his sight.” 13 But Hananyah answered, “Lord, many have told me about this man, how much harm he has done to your people in Yerushalayim; 14 and here he has a warrant from the head cohanim to arrest everyone who calls on your name.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, because this man is my chosen instrument to carry my name to the Goyim, even to their kings, and to the sons of Isra’el as well. 16 For I myself will show him how much he will have to suffer on account of my name.”
Reflection Questions:Thousands of people believed in Christ (cf. Acts 5:14). But others, like the energetic Pharisee Saul, hated the new faith. Saul was so eager to stamp out this new “Jesus” movement that he went clear to Damascus in Syria. On the road, Jesus met him unexpectedly, and stopped him in his tracks. God called Saul to something much bigger, and when he responded, he changed the world.
- Jesus met Saul in a particularly dramatic, forceful way (perhaps because Saul had resisted many chances to respond to the message delivered in other ways). How did you meet Jesus? Was it a one-time event, or were there multiple movements toward (and maybe away from) Jesus as Lord of your life? What does it tell you about “the wideness in God’s mercy” that God seems to meet each person in an individualized way?
- Saul set out to arrest “persons who belonged to the Way”—that is, Christian believers. Yet on the road, Jesus asked him, “Why are you harassing ME?” Have you ever realized that Jesus identifies himself that closely with you? How can it give you strength for each day’s challenges to realize that Jesus experiences life’s joys and sorrows right along with you (cf. Hebrews 2:14-18), that what hurts you hurts Jesus, too?
O Lord, you may not call me to a mission as big as Saul’s (or you may). But I want to be ready to take on whatever you call me to. Amen.Insights from Darrell Holtz
Darrell Holtz serves as Program Director for Adult Curriculum and Writing at The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection.
Why would God choose Saul (a driven, ambitious Pharisee who was doing everything he could to suppress the Christian movement) to be an apostle, and not even mainly to the Jews, but to the Gentiles? No personnel department worth their salt would recommend a “hire” like that!
E. P. Sanders, who taught at Duke University from 1990 to 2005, wrote a book called Paul: A Very Short Introduction. Among many valuable insights, he noted this on pages 69-70: “Paul had memorized the Scriptures in Greek, and he could pull out passages which combined certain words; [in Galatians], he cited the only passages which combine ‘right-‘ and ‘faith,’ and the only passage which combines ‘curse’ and ‘law.’ The modern reader requires a concordance to learn this, and an ancient would have needed a mastery of the text equal to Paul’s….The Galatian converts, who formerly had worshipped other Gods (Gal. 4:8), could not have recognized just how dazzling was Paul’s mastery of ancient exegetical technique….They would have seen, though, that Paul had passages in his favour and they saw his conclusions perfectly well.” In other words, with no easily searchable computer Bible on his cell phone, probably without even any Bible scrolls easily available to him, Paul used the combination of his outstanding rabbinical education (cf. Acts 22:3) and his Greek background from being born and raised in Tarsus to understand and share the broad message of the Hebrew Scriptures in a way not one person in a thousand could have done in his day! That was one reason God chose him–he was uniquely equipped to lay out, in his letters, a Biblical and practical basis for the worldwide Kingdom of God that God still invites all of us into today. (He also had dauntless courage, incredible persistence, and a caring pastor’s heart, among other strengths.)
I’m grateful that God also finds ways to use people with lesser gifts than Paul. My life, by conventional career planning standards, has been kind of a mess. I was a theology major in college. I was a pastor for 13 years, and honestly, not very many good things happened in the churches I tried to lead. Hallmark Cards hired me in 1986, and I spent almost 19 years there. During those years, I worked as an editor, editorial manager, marketing strategist, data analyst and online research facilitator. During those years, I was an active church member, but I thought I was done with ministry, so I sold many of my study books. I retired from Hallmark in 2004, and in 2006 The Church of the Resurrection honored me by asking me to join the staff in a writing and teaching capacity. During the last 9 years, I have been amazed at how many of the experiences I had during my strange, almost random-looking “career path” have helped me do my current work better.
I do not believe God micro-manages our lives, or the world around us. But I’m thankful that God has somehow woven all that I’ve done, the wise choices and the unwise, into a tapestry that can help other people understand their Bibles better. I believe God has the amazing capacity to say to each one of us, “Nothing you’ve done, nothing that’s happened to you, has to go to waste. Trust me–I’ve chosen you, and together we can make something beautiful out of all the messy loose ends of your life.”
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Why would God choose Saul (a driven, ambitious Pharisee who was doing everything he could to suppress the Christian movement) to be an apostle, and not even mainly to the Jews, but to the Gentiles? No personnel department worth their salt would recommend a “hire” like that!
E. P. Sanders, who taught at Duke University from 1990 to 2005, wrote a book called Paul: A Very Short Introduction. Among many valuable insights, he noted this on pages 69-70: “Paul had memorized the Scriptures in Greek, and he could pull out passages which combined certain words; [in Galatians], he cited the only passages which combine ‘right-‘ and ‘faith,’ and the only passage which combines ‘curse’ and ‘law.’ The modern reader requires a concordance to learn this, and an ancient would have needed a mastery of the text equal to Paul’s….The Galatian converts, who formerly had worshipped other Gods (Gal. 4:8), could not have recognized just how dazzling was Paul’s mastery of ancient exegetical technique….They would have seen, though, that Paul had passages in his favour and they saw his conclusions perfectly well.” In other words, with no easily searchable computer Bible on his cell phone, probably without even any Bible scrolls easily available to him, Paul used the combination of his outstanding rabbinical education (cf. Acts 22:3) and his Greek background from being born and raised in Tarsus to understand and share the broad message of the Hebrew Scriptures in a way not one person in a thousand could have done in his day! That was one reason God chose him–he was uniquely equipped to lay out, in his letters, a Biblical and practical basis for the worldwide Kingdom of God that God still invites all of us into today. (He also had dauntless courage, incredible persistence, and a caring pastor’s heart, among other strengths.)
I’m grateful that God also finds ways to use people with lesser gifts than Paul. My life, by conventional career planning standards, has been kind of a mess. I was a theology major in college. I was a pastor for 13 years, and honestly, not very many good things happened in the churches I tried to lead. Hallmark Cards hired me in 1986, and I spent almost 19 years there. During those years, I worked as an editor, editorial manager, marketing strategist, data analyst and online research facilitator. During those years, I was an active church member, but I thought I was done with ministry, so I sold many of my study books. I retired from Hallmark in 2004, and in 2006 The Church of the Resurrection honored me by asking me to join the staff in a writing and teaching capacity. During the last 9 years, I have been amazed at how many of the experiences I had during my strange, almost random-looking “career path” have helped me do my current work better.
I do not believe God micro-manages our lives, or the world around us. But I’m thankful that God has somehow woven all that I’ve done, the wise choices and the unwise, into a tapestry that can help other people understand their Bibles better. I believe God has the amazing capacity to say to each one of us, “Nothing you’ve done, nothing that’s happened to you, has to go to waste. Trust me–I’ve chosen you, and together we can make something beautiful out of all the messy loose ends of your life.”
Download the GPS App
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224 United States
913.897.0120
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