¹³ You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion—how I violently persecuted God’s church. I did my best to destroy it. ¹⁴ I was far ahead of my fellow Jews in my zeal for the traditions of my ancestors.

¹⁵ But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace. Then it pleased him ¹⁶ to reveal his Son to me so that I would proclaim the Good News about Jesus to the Gentiles.

When this happened, I did not rush out to consult with any human being. ¹⁷ Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to consult with those who were apostles before I was. Instead, I went away into Arabia, and later I returned to the city of Damascus.

¹⁸ Then three years later I went to Jerusalem to get to know Peter, and I stayed with him for fifteen days. ¹⁹ The only other apostle I met at that time was James, the Lord’s brother. ²⁰ I declare before God that what I am writing to you is not a lie.

²¹ After that visit I went north into the provinces of Syria and Cilicia. ²² And still the churches in Christ that are in Judea didn’t know me personally. ²³ All they knew was that people were saying, “The one who used to persecute us is now preaching the very faith he tried to destroy!” ²⁴ And they praised God because of me.

Galatians 1:13-24

Dear God, what strikes me about this passage this morning is the end in verses 23 and 24. It intimates the struggle of Christians in Syria and Cilicia of the time. They were being persecuted for their beliefs. They knew there were people they shouldn’t trust. They were pressed but not crushed (2 Corinthians 4:8). They were worshiping you. They were figuring out their faith. And then they heard about this miracle. One of the people they would have been told to fear in the past was now not only safe to be around, but was also being persecuted himself.

I think this gave these people two things. First, it showed them how powerful you are. They God they were worshiping was amazing. Second, it taught them that if someone who had worked so hard to destroy belief in Jesus had so thoroughly had his mind changed, then it must be real. Paul had an incredible testimony to share.

Frankly, everything you do really is amazing. I finally finished the A.J. Jacobs’s book, The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible. It took me a while, but I really feel like I savored it. It was interesting to see where he came to at the end of it. I look forward to listening to some of his talks about the book on YouTube now that I’ve finished it. By the end, a Jewish man who considered himself agnostic before the project ended the project still agnostic, but maybe a little less so. Here’s what he said about his belief in you at the end of his year:

“Do I believe in a traditional biblical God? Well, not in the sense that the ancient Israelites believed in Him. I could never make the full leap to accepting a God who rolls up His sleeves and fiddles with our lives like a novelist does his characters. I’m still agnostic. But in the words of Elton Richards, I’m not a reverent agnostic. Which isn’t an oxymoron, I swear. I now believe that whether or not there’s a God, there is such a thing as sacredness. Life is sacred. The Sabbath can be a sacred day. Prayer can be a sacred ritual. There is something transcendent, beyond the everyday. it’s possible that humans created this sacredness ourselves, but that doesn’t take away from its power or importance.”

Father, I don’t know where I’m really going with this prayer this morning except to say that I really appreciate the journey you have us all on. I can appreciate my own journey. It is a mixture of success and sorrow. I do know that the closer I get to you the more I have love in my heart for others and the less I judge. I also realize there is less and less I feel like I know for sure. You are so much bigger than me. Life is so much bigger than me. My job today is to simply love you and then love others. You’ll figure out the rest.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen