October 13, 2008

Acts 26:1-23. I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"

Paul was an ardent Jew. His passion was not merely upholding the law, but also seeing that others upheld it. For this purpose, he hunted down and persecuted Christians. But then Paul experienced a close encounter of the divine kind-an encounter as spectacular, as dramatic as anything Steven Spielberg could dream up. Yet, the most dramatic part of Paul's story is neither the bright light nor the mysterious voice from heaven, but the transformation of the man himself. From a great persecutor of Christians, Paul becomes one of the greatest persuaders for Christ.

Paul's conversion, however, was not a rejection either of his Jewishness or of his personality; it was a joyous embracing of Christ. Paul did not abandon his journey to Damascus, but proceeded there with an altered agenda-to proclaim the good news of Jesus. After his conversion, Paul demonstrated the same all-consuming passion, the same grim determination, the same unflagging zeal, but now these were under God's control and harnessed for his purposes.

How has your encounter with the risen Jesus transformed you?

PRAY for the Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, diocesan regions Kingston, Mandeville, and Montego Bay (West Indies)

Ps 1, 2, 3 * 4, 7; Micah 7:1-7; Luke 8:26-39