June 13

Copyright © 2005-2007 Collin Park
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Notes for reading of June 13

what's in it for me?

Two big points struck me from the past two days' readings. Yesterday we saw how the Lord can send his people out to preach the good news. In yesterday's reading, the Lord got the gospel to an Ethiopian official by sending Philip to the lonely desert road the Ethiopian's chariot was on.

Today we read how the Lord spoke to Saul the terrorist without needing to send anyone at all. Here again, someone is traveling on a lonely desert road. The Ethiopian official was reading from the scroll of Isaiah the prophet after worshiping in Jerusalem; Saul was out to arrest more believers after persecuting them in Jerusalem. The Ethiopian got Philip to preach to him; Saul got the Lord himself:

[S]uddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"
"Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked.
"I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he replied. "Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."
from Acts 9.3-6

Here is what I learn from this:

God can reach anyone anywhere with the good news.
God can use his people to transmit the gospel;
he can also tell people directly
God can reach people regardless of whether they have worshipful or murderous intentions

As I read the passage this time around, I wondered why it was that Saul was so excited about persecuting the church. What, I wondered, was he afraid of? Or if not afraid, then why? Jesus asks him that same question, but Saul never answers it. Instead, he asks a question back: "Who are you?"

A friend was telling me this morning about a conversation with someone who was considering Jesus. "If I go your way (that is, if I believe in Jesus), what do I get? What's in it for me?"

You may have noticed that Saul didn't ask that question. Neither did the Ethiopian official. The question, "what's in it for me?" just might indicate a complete lack of interest. If so, what indicates sincere interest, real interest? It might be something like this:

How can I get closer to God?
What does God want me to do with my life?
How can I serve God more fully?

Or if not those, at least
something like

Why can't I find satisfaction in life?
Where does true joy come from?
How can I tell if my life is going in a good direction?
Why do I have such a hard time trying to be a good person?

And how about you and me? What questions are we asking today? I hope I'm asking more "Who are you, Lord?" than "What's in it for me?"

posted 6/15
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Almost forgot

The lovely Carol and Jenny were supposed to return home last night, but their flight was canceled due to weather. So I spent another night alone in bed... then the phone rang at about 3:00am. I didn't get to it in time, but I was fully awake. I ended up going swimming (swam about 900 yards) at the "Y", during which I remembered something about last night's posting on the good news.

I forgot to mention Jesus. Well, I did mention him, but I left him out in my summary of what the good news is. Like fish who forget that they're wet (thanks to Pete for this phrase), I forget how much of my thinking has been shaped by the fact of Jesus's death on the cross and his resurrection. I wrote about it in August, but the thing that makes the good news credible -- I mean, how can I believe that I don't have to be (perfect, the smartest, correcter than thou, whatever)? It's because all the stuff I'm trying to compensate for -- my sin and shortcomings and that sort of thing -- has been paid for by Jesus himself. ...as I wrote in this open letter to an atheist friend.

I think the struggle with the good news is that just about all of us don't fully get it, or don't fully believe it. How would my life be different if I really believed that I didn't have to make up for anything, that all my faults were already paid for? Would I be free to be a better person? What would it take to change me?

The answer: a daily miracle. Lord, fill me with the knowledge of your will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding, that I can life a life worthy of you and please you in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in my knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to your glorious might so that I might have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to God, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in the Kingdom of Light. (from Colossians 1, sorta)

Amen.

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