Ephesians 3:17-19
17That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
18May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
19And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
Okay, I may have said only one verse but I think it is essential for me to include the whole passage.
Clearly, Paul after being converted from persecutor to persecuted made it a point to share his feelings toward God to every nation he had preached. He has been so verbal in what he really feel about God to the point that many felt he had exceeded his predecessors or much older disciples of God. Some thought that he's only doing these things for the redemption of his pass sins. We are not certain of how one feels but we can see it through their actions. How would you feel if you turned out to be the person you used to hate?
God is truly powerful and very wise in choosing Paul. Why? Paul is a wise person himself. He belongs to a family who watches over the Jewish tradition. He himself is a Pharisee like his father and believed in their old traditions. Remember Pharisees are the ones responsible for Jesus' death. He is an intelligent person and is a rich tent-maker. For short, he has everything any person could ever wish for - power and money. A great example of denying oneself and following Christ (Luke 9:23 - And He said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.)
The moment he realized that Jesus is God, he closed his eyes, opened his heart to God. and turned his ways to the Lord instead of his past comfortable life. You can almost feel how his heart is filled with love, joy and passion in every message he delivers to the people. He is the perfect example of what he is teaching to God's people.
You can see Christ in him. And He dwells in his heart by faith and is established with the knowledge of God's amazing love. We can see that God's love and mercy towards him have surpassed even his past knowledge of being a Pharisee. He chose an uncomfortable life with God rather than living in comfort and sin.
The question for us now is - Can we turn our backs on the things (knowledge, career, power, wealth) that we have achieved and what we are about to achieve and turn to God? Can they see Christ in you now?
God bless you all.
God bless you all.
