“I Was Traveling To Damascus”

“With this in mind, I was traveling to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests, when at midday along the road, your Excellency, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my companions. When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It hurts you to kick against the goads.’ I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The Lord answered, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But get up and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you to serve and testify to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you. I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles – to whom I am sending you to open their eyes so that they may turn form darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’”

“After that, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout the countryside of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God and do deeds consistent with repentance. For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. To this day I have had help from God, and so I stand here, testifying to both small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would take place: that the Messiah must suffer, and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”

Act 26:12-23

How are your beliefs? Are you sure they are correct? How would you know if they weren’t correct? What would it take for you to admit you were wrong?

Paul told us in that moment we realize we have strayed from the true word, we need to repent. Repentance does not mean just nodding in polite agreement with God, and continuing the same way we were going. When we turn our thoughts toward God – when we truly agree with Him about what is truly right – our behavior will follow. We go in the direction we are pointed. So, when we turn our minds and hearts toward God, our actions change accordingly.

Instead of going happily along, assuming our choices are right, we need to stop regularly and ask God. As Paul taught, it is only when we are willing to admit being wrong that we can be certain of being right with God.

Either we conform our desires to the truth or we conform the truth to our desires.

Our Daily Bread – July 25, 2009