In the past few days we have been looking at Paul and the incredible work he and others did in their lives for Christ. So many times Paul had to come to his own defense. In Acts 22, but beginning at the end of Acts21, Paul was about to be arrested again.
"Paul stood on the steps of the barracks and motioned to the crowd. when they were all silent, he said to them in Aramaic: "Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense. I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in Jerusalem. Under Gamaliel (a very renowned teacher), I was thoroughly trained in the law of our fathers and was just as zealous for God as any of you are today."
Study notes: "By saying that at one time he was as zealous for God as any of his listeners, Paul acknowledged their sincere motives behind their desire to kill him and recognized that he would have done the same to Christian leaders a few years earlier. Paul always tried to establish a common point of contact with his audience before launching into a full-scale defense of Christianity." (end study)
When we witness for Christ, we must first identify ourselves with our audience. We are bonded to them by our own imperfections and our many life experiences. But most of all what binds us together is the love Christ has for each of us.
Today's blog is perhaps not a new thought. But, Paul's life can be a great inspiration for any one of us. He had been a known enemy of God's plan by rounding up Christians and jailing them. He was instrumental in the death of Stephen whose martyrdom also is a story waiting to be told. Come Monday, I hope to tell the tale of Paul's New Life and why he was led to partner with so many others in the changing of the world he knew.
He was a true hero, yet a man. But he was truly God's man.
Would that one day it could be said of each of us.
Jo INMN
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