Hi
Today’s Holy Nougat inspired me to reconsider ideas about freedom. I hope it also inspires you.
“But Paul shouted in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.””
Acts 16:28 NRSV
Can you imagine. – Saul, now Paul was getting a mild taste of his former medicine. Being a former ‘bounty hunter’ of people of the Way, it was perhaps possible that he knew some of the jailers. And, even if he didn’t; his previous work alludes to him knowing what was in store. Yet, despite that, when the angel effected the jailbreak; Paul’s primary concern was his jailer! He knew that jailers were punished for each prisoner ‘lost’; especially one of Paul’s stature. Moreover he knew that he was no longer imprisoned or in prison.
And that was the major difference between Saul of Tarsus and Paul the apostle. Saul was a prisoner of vain philosophy despite being ‘free’ to travel unhindered in Rome. Paul, had already experienced the liberation that accompanies a mind renewed in Christ. He saw every opportunity as one to offer spiritual freedom. And since he’d died to self for the sake of Christ, he was able to focus on the jailer rather than himself. Isn’t that awesome?
Would that I were able to see beyond my own selfishness to the pressing needs of those around me. Oh that we all would! I pray us all into the freedom that comes from Christ and His matchless love.
In Christ’s love and grace . . .
