Eastertide
April 4, 2016

Scripture Reading: Acts 9:1-6

Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ He asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The reply came, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.’

I left the general assembly of my church held in Charlotte, North Carolina several years ago heading northwest toward the intersection to I-40 to take me back home. At least that is what I thought I had done. After driving for several miles, I saw a big sign that said, “Welcome to South Carolina.” I had to drive deeper into South Carolina before I found a service station that could put me on the right track home. The only good that came out of that little detour was I could add South Carolina to the list of states that I had visited.

Have you ever taken the wrong road to the right thing? Saul did. He was by all accounts a dedicated participant in his faith had given his whole life to its work. He even was ridding it of what he considered to be heretics, the followers of Jesus. Apparently Jesus saw the potential in this dedicated man, if Saul could just find the right road.

Of course, Jesus sees the potential in all of us. We were created each to be a player in the actualization of the Kingdom of God on this earth. It is imperative that we each stay in close communion with God checking out not only our actions but our attitudes making God’s purpose our purpose.

It does not take a long trip back in history to see where the church has veered off course. It usually happens when we, the followers of God, try to recreate God in an image that is more fitting with our own purposes, rather than God’s. It starts in individuals but it quickly expands to the multitudes. There is a lesson for all of us in the experience of Saul who changed his name to Paul and furthered the purpose of God.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we try to redefine your purposes to outcomes of our own desires. Help us to see that our wholeness is linked to our desires being in synch with yours. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.