We have been looking at individuals who lived their lives in a way that demonstrated the impact thought: God wants me to walk, work and worship with divine clarity while living in the midst of human ambiguity and ambivalence. Let’s look at another example in the New Testament, the apostle Paul.
He had been a terrorist zealot committed to wiping out the followers of the Way, Christians. After a dramatic conversion, in which his call and commission to take the Gospel message to the Gentiles was made clear, he never flinched from carrying out his commission.
Faithful obedience was often rewarded with being whipped and/or imprisoned. Worse, he was stoned and left for dead one time. He was misunderstood and opposed by the Jewish people and often persecuted by the pagans to whom he had been sent. He was criticized by fellow Christians and often felt very much alone and abandoned.
What kept him going was the divine clarity of his calling. Listen to him in 1 Corinthians 9:16-17: “Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.” Later in the same chapter, verses 26-27: “I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”
Even while in prison in Philippians he walked, worked and worshipped with divine clarity while experiencing human ambiguity and ambivalence. And because he did God used and blessed him.
