Today I leave on another adventure to the other side of the world. From Januray 8-January 25 I will be in Turkey and Greece traveling to the different cities of Paul's missionary journeys, I get to do a devotion out of Philippians at Philippi(And going to the location of the Battle of the 300, Spartan's are awesome).
As I've been preparing for this journey I've begun to see Paul in a different way. Whenever I read one of his letters I would always get the sense that this guy was the super Christian no one else could ever be, he walked into a city, started a successful, rock solid church, and when issues arose after he had left he wrote a letter knowing exactly what to say. Paul was untouchable and always had the answers, I could never be like him.
But in preping for this class I began to see another side of Paul, the human side. The side of him that had a life that really sucked. The side of him that dealt with whinny people who needed to grow up. The side of him that dealt with mobs wanting to kill him. I began to wonder if in his letter writing he ever hesitated before he started a sentence thinking, "God, this is really going to tick some people off, are you sure this is what I have to say?"
To me, Paul is no longer the super Christian that I could never be, rather, I now see Paul for what he really was, a Pastor. Paul was a man trying to do the will of God, trying to be more like Christ. He knew the junk that came with leading people into Christlikeness. He knew the struggles that come with preparing a message that people have to hear but would probably be offensive to some. He knew what it was to work with stubborn people.
I now see Paul simply as a man who understands what I'm going through, a man who is relatable, a man who made it.
Peace be with you
This is really helpful, not even trying to relate as a pastor (I'm not). I think I, too, always regarded him as some super Christian, that claimed to be the "chief of sinners" (1 Timothy 1:15) but that was before and not after conversion. But he tells us in Romans 7 that he struggles like we do (correct if I am wrong because I've heard it preached this regarded our state before conversion and I disagree and think it is about the continual conflict with our sin nature). This helps me remember that, just like we can relate to Jesus knowing He was tempted in every way but still chose righteousness, so, here, we see Paul struggling and not out of touch, not devoid of sin. Just obedient to the Spirit, trying to fulfill his upward call in Christ Jesus. So we too ought to strive for such willfull servanthood, and recognize that our struggles are not uncommon to man, and anything is possible for/with God.
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