Articles
I Thought To Myself - Acts 26:9-11
I Thought To Myself - Acts 26:9-11
In his early years, Paul hated Jesus and His disciples. He not only thought they were wrong, he thought they needed to be punished and even put to death. He confesses that he was ‘furiously enraged at them’. He wrote: “I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it” (Galatians 1:13).
In all of this, he not only ‘thought to himself’, he thought he was RIGHT in doing so. HE thus was able to do this with a clear conscience (Acts 23:1). But we see here that thinking yourself right does not in itself make you right! Having a clear conscience does not mean that you are not guilty.
Our conscience works in tandem with our knowledge and thinking. If our conscience operates on the basis of false knowledge and thinking, then our conscience not only does NOT protect us from doing evil but rather encourages us to do wrong. Such a faulty conscience needs to be reeducated!
God provided this for Paul: Jesus appeared unto him and spoke unto him. This is the basis upon which Paul affirmed his great conversion. The persecutor became the persecuted! The opponent became the preacher.
Concerning this, Paul wrote that “even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all” (1 Timothy 1:13-15).
Most of us have never persecuted Christians just because they were Christians. Those who did, have not put them to death for such. If God had mercy on Paul and forgave him, we can be assured that He can have mercy upon us. In this, Paul is our example of salvation.
We CAN be saved and forgiven, but, like Paul, we need to turn around and become a servant of Jesus. We need to believe in His resurrection and glory. We need to go about telling people about our newfound faith in Jesus. We need to have a change in our very lifestyle (repentance). Even as Paul was told to “arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name” (Acts 22:16), even so we should be baptized into Christ. We, like Paul, should be able to proclaim in truth: “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Gal. 2:20-21). Are you imitating Paul?
Hugh DeLong
