Thursday, July 18, 2013
Galatians 1:23-24 They only heard the report: "The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy." And they praised God because of me.
GLORIFY GOD
May we also be encouraged to hold fast to the pure Gospel because it alone glorifies God.
How does it do this? Consider the story of Saul's conversion. Before this took place he was a dyed-in-the-wool Pharisee. His devotion to Phariseeism was so intense that he persecuted the disciples of Christ in an attempt to destroy them. He went so far as to obtain letters of authorization from the chief priests that he might travel 190 miles to Damascus and arrest any man or woman who belonged to the Way and bring them back as prisoners to Jerusalem. But then a mighty miracle happened. By the power of the Gospel word spoken by Jesus Paul was changed into a believing child of God. He came to consider everything he had previously considered important a loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ, for whose sake he was willing to lose all things and consider them rubbish that he might gain Christ and be found in Him, clothed in the righteousness that comes through faith in Him. When that miracle occurred in Paul's life it redounded to God's glory. The angels of heaven rejoiced and celebrated, praising God for His wonderful mercy. God's people on earth rejoiced too and praised Him for the magnificent power and grace He demonstrated in transforming a rabid persecutor of the Savior into one of His most avid disciples and missionaries.
The same Lord of love who changed Saul the persecutor into Paul the preacher has worked mightily in your life too. Your conversion to the Way may not have been as dramatic. It may have happened quietly in your Baptism as an infant. It may have happened later in life without hoopla or fanfare. But when it happened -- by the power of the pure Gospel of Jesus -- God's grace was magnified and your Redeemer glorified.
