“On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. About noon, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
What is often described as the story of Paul’s conversion is really the story of Paul’s divine call.
So the spies questioned him: “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” He saw through their duplicity and said to them, “Show me a denarius. Whose portrait and inscription are on it?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. He said to them, “Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
Although we may debate exactly what Jesus meant in his reply, there is irony in his statement.
Yes, I was born in guilt, in sin, from the moment my mother conceived me. And yes, you want truth in the most hidden places; you teach me wisdom in the most secret places. Purify me with hyssop and I will be clean; wash me and I will be whiter than snow.
In these three verses, the psalmist gives us a model prayer for dealing with relationships that resist healing: (a) He acknowledges the universal and unavoidable problem of sin that contaminates our interactions with one another, (b) he describes God’s desire to expose and replace our sin with truth.
We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
As much as we like to think we are in charge of our choices, we can all admit to times when we felt compelled to act in particular ways, perhaps against our will or better judgment. We may have reacted without thinking or followed a wrong path out of fear or habit. We may have hurt others or ruined a relationship for reasons we can’t explain.
If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.
Sooner or later, we each encounter relationships that seem to pack more pain than pleasure. We may endure repeated conflicts with an adult child who lives a troubling lifestyle or with a critical parent who never lets up.
