Chains

⁹¹⁰

2 Timothy 2:8-10 (NRSV)

Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel, for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

The Apostle Paul had experienced the ultimate in attitude adjustments, and it stuck.

He was a leading Pharisee, an expert in Jewish law, zealous (by his own account) for all things to do with law-keeping and persecution of those who didn't.

In the first days of Christianity, he was the biggest opponent of the Gospel. He sought to arrest and kill Christians for their faith.

And then, the Gospel happened to him. He didn't "hear" it, it happened to him.

"Remember Jesus Christ," Paul says, "raised from the dead...that is my Gospel."

On the Damascus road, in a blinding light, Paul had seen this risen Jesus face to face.

Attitude...everything...got adjusted in the days that followed. Years later, Paul would write the words of today's scripture while sitting in a prison, chained for proclaiming the very story that he once persecuted.

There have been moments in my life when I have wished that I could see with my own eyes, just like Paul did. Then, surely I could have his kind of faith.

The experience must have been terrifying, amazing, and certainly life-changing.

But the truth of this scripture is what it serves to remind us. Powerful faith in Jesus doesn't come from simply reading about a historical character from another time, whose philosophies seem nice and interesting.

Christianity is a dynamic way of life...a relationship with a living, resurrected messiah. If we learn to look, and open ourselves to the leading of the Holy Spirit, it's possible to see him each day.

Paul knew that power. Even though he was chained, he proclaimed that the "word of God is not chained."

2,000 years later, the same word...the same Jesus...seeks to show himself on whatever road we walk.

Prayer: May we know true freedom, not chained by sin but free through the word of God to serve you.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. World without end. Amen.

Tomorrow's Scripture: 2 Timothy 2:11-13