Vacation Bible School last week was wonderful

Vacation Bible School last week was wonderful. (See the pics!) One could feel the Spirit of the Lord there every day. Parents, not interested in making the long journey home only to turn right around and return for their children, stayed and visited, helped, or joined in the classes. The study was on the conversion and life of Paul. Can you identify with Paul? Some of us can, so much!

In Philippians 3:4-6 Paul lists his credits. He had all the reasons in the world to be thought of as a religious success-- brains, the right lineage, the right behavior, the right upbringing, and all of the sincerity and zeal you could ever want. And, he did it all by himself. What a wonderful guy! Not many people can be termed blameless (verse 6).

Why does Paul then say in his letter to Timothy (I Tim. 1:13), that he was formerly a blasphemer, persecutor, and violent aggressor? Those are not very complementary. A little further down in the passage, Paul speaks of himself as the foremost of sinners. What happened to good guy Paul with all the right stuff ?? What made him realize that he was not everything he thought he was?

Some of us are and were like Paul when Jesus finally got through to us. We were alright people. We were good citizens, careful to be law abiding, from nice families, and perhaps even church-going. Many of us were even religious in our faith, and learned a lot about God. Scripture memorization was a big part of my parochial school education. We wrote reports about and even graphed Paul's missionary journeys. We learned Bible stories. Like Paul, some of us knew a lot about God and His Son, before we actually met Him! There is a big difference between knowing about a person and knowing the person personally. We can study the life and times, etc. of, say, President Bush. We can become experts on him, without ever meeting him or knowing him personally. The same is true with Jesus. We can study the Bible, as Paul had done. We can know a lot about events in the Bible, and who it says God is, and all of the other things the Bible tells us, without knowing Jesus personally.

That is where Paul was on the road to Damascus in Acts chapter 9. That is where I was when I met Jesus That is where many are. They know that there is a God. They may even be very sincere in a religion, but they have never met Jesus and experienced His transforming power in their lives. Whether we want to acknowledge it or not, God does exist. He is in charge of the universe. He is holding it all together, and he does want to be a vital part of the lives of those whom He created-each of us!

Like Paul, we can make a change from knowing about God to knowing God and His son Jesus, up close and personal. Jesus asked Paul- "Why are you persecuting Me?" That word persecuting means to make something flee by pressing towards it; to chase, as in war or hunting. Jesus asked, "Why are you trying to run me off and get rid of Me?" Why are you struggling against me, Paul, when I came to give you abundant Life, so that we could be a team together through life? Why are you against Me in your 'religiousness', instead of accepting that I want us to be together in a relationship that does not include being religious, but rather, personal and intimate?

One day, the Bible says, we all will meet, face to face, the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that at the name of Jesus, "Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess...that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father." (Phil. 2:9-11). Some knees will bow in fear and terror. Some knees will bow in love and honor. All knees will bow. How will your knee bow?