The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe
"Changed"
How did the "Hebrew of the Hebrews" become "the apostle of the Gentiles?" (Philippians 3:5; Romans 11:13). Paul tells us.
"The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us" (Romans 5:5).
Heritage and experience taught the apostle to hate Gentiles. Salvation and the indwelling presence of God completely changed Paul's heart and disposition. Just as no one would have expected Saul of Tarsus to believe the Gospel, no one could have imagined Paul of the Lord Jesus Christ to devote his life - and ultimately sacrifice his life - to those he would have before wished dead. "I will send thee far hence to the Gentiles" said the Lord to Paul. "I will go unto the Gentiles" responded Paul (Acts 22:21; 18:6). He went through the presence and working of the Christ who went with, and even more importantly, within him. "He that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles" (Galatians 2:8).
If ever we wonder about change in our own lives, Paul serves as a shining example of its possibility. The unbeliever can be so transformed that "alienated from the life of God" becomes "accepted in the Beloved" (Ephesians 4:18; 1:6). The believer lives in ongoing change as God works to conform us to the spiritual and moral image of the Lord Jesus (Romans 8:28-29). While perhaps not as openly dramatic as Paul's experience, the presence and power of God no less works in every Christian to cause difference in how we think, believe, speak, act, and relate. The process is ongoing, including in this day. Whether obvious or obscure, the Holy Spirit presently works in us to change us more and more into Christ's likeness, through Christ's love. "Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (II Corinthians 3:18). Paul knew such grace, and communicates by both example and teaching that we can - and must - know the same. "Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more" (I Thessalonians 4:1).
Paul died in service to those he would before have slain. The Hebrew of the Hebrews became the apostle of the Gentiles. This constitutes an utterly, completely miraculous marvel of grace. The Lord Jesus made the wondrous difference in Paul, just as He can in us. Let us believe that God works in us no less to transform our hearts and lives. He does, and as we anticipate by faith His ongoing process of change, we will find Him faithful to do, as in Paul, what only He can do.
"Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."
(Philippians 1:6)
Weekly Memory Verse
Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
(Philippians 1:6)
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