This is then the trail of events which Paul undertook when Jesus met with him on the Damascus road: 1. He went away to Arabia. Paul spent time alone with God before he became Paul the evangelist. 2. He went back to Damascus, remember that Paul had been riding on that road in order to destroy the nascent Christian church. 3. He went to Jerusalem. The centre of the Jewish religion, and for the early Church, the centre of Christianity. The Jews would be out to kill him, the Church would be highly suspicious of him; but still he went in order to face his past. This is where he had helped kill Stephen. He spent time there with Peter, the chief apostle. What a thrill that must have been for Peter! 4. He went to Syria and Cilicia, where the city he had been brought up in, Tarsus, was located. He returned to tell his boyhood friends that he was a changed man and the reasons for that. We can see Paul's character: he chose the hardest way, he went where it was going to be most painful for him and, in that way, he built his confidence in the Gospel and learnt how to debate and argue successfully that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. What lesson can you and I learn about Paul's behaviour? He clearly demonstrated that he was not going to sit on the periphery. He was wholly committed to Jesus Christ. How do we show that in OUR actions?
top of page
Search
Recent Posts
See AllThe reader is reminded afresh in these few verses that Paul cared nothing about himself or his reputation, but wholly sought God's glory and the growth of His Kingdom. He also had a great heart of lov
0
Paul again has to resort to irony in his exasperation at the accusations of some of the Corinthian believers. It is as if they were searching minutely for anything they could hold up against him and
3
As so often happens, when someone is pushed back by unfair questions and accusations, their response is to tell their story: they may come out with reasons as to how things are or their life story o
1
bottom of page