January 15, 2009 - Acts 8:3

“But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.” Acts 8:3.
Saul was a zealous Pharisee, who had a passion for following what he believed to be the truth, and, in doing so, he believed that he was following God’s will for the Jewish people. Because of this attitude and heart, Saul began arresting any followers of Jesus that he could find and imprisoned them. He actually thought that he was right in doing this and that he was keeping the Jewish religion and way of life pure. He believed that this sect of Jesus followers was heretical and that they needed to be brought to justice. God used Saul’s zealousness to push His little band of followers out into the next reaches of the world to start spreading the good news concerning Jesus. Yet Saul had no interest in that. He sought to snuff out this movement as quickly as possible.
As I thought about Saul and this situation, I realized that religion, in general, tends to do similar activities in order to “keep their faith pure.” I began to think about what Christians have done throughout our history to subject people to “our” God by force or threat of death, all in the name of Christ. Bringing it down to a my world experience, I began to think about how we act towards one another and how Christian churches do not relate to one another because of some difference or another. I even considered how in my own life, I make judgments on who is “in” or “out”, saying things like, “well, if they don’t do this or act in that way, they must certainly not be a Christian!”
I realize that in each case, from the macro, historical, like the Crusades, down to little ol’ me, each was trying to follow what they believed to be God’s will for them and to do what they believed to be right. And we can justify ourselves using the Word of God, just as Saul did, using the Jewish Law.
Questions: Have you ever experienced a time or situation where you were doing what you thought to be the correct thing, only to find out that you were wrong? What is the chief command of God (Luke 10:25-27) and how should we live according to it? What happened to Saul, and how did that impact his life and the life of the church?
Prayer: Father, forgive me for not loving my neighbor, even when they do not see things the way that I do. Forgive me for making judgments when I have no right to do so. Please give me a heart to love those around me. Amen.