Friday,
1/25/13
An odd
thing about Paul’s story of his conversion on the road to Damascus is that he
told it three different times the Acts of the Apostles. It is in Chapters Nine,
in Twenty-two, and in Twenty-Seven. Although he tells the story in almost the
same words each time; the last time, in Chapter Twenty-Seven he recalled one
detail he left out the other two times. The detail he finally remembered is
that the voice from heaven told him, “It is hard for you to kick against the
goad.”
A goad
is a pointed stick a farmer uses to prod his beast the go the right way. In
saying it was hard for Saul to kick against the goad, Jesus was saying that all
along while Saul was persecuting the Christians his conscience was telling him
he was hurting good people. I say. “his conscience was telling him;” but in
bringing the matter up, Jesus was saying that he himself was behind those
promptings of Saul’s conscience. When we say, “let your conscience be your
guide” we are often really saying, “Let the Lord, speaking through your
conscience be your guide.”
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