God Gets His Man

This morning in our devotions, Susan was sharing what it meant in Acts 26:14 where Jesus says to Saul of Tarsus, “Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” (ESV) Kicking against something sharp can’t be a good thing! But that’s what Saul was doing. God was moving Israel in a certain direction, goading them on as it were, and Saul was kicking up his heels against the very One he claimed to be serving. What good was that doing him? Spurgeon said that if God has put his hand on you, there is no amount of kicking that will do you any good; you’re going where God has ordained—one way or the other. So Saul was kicking out toward a destination he would never obtain. God gets his man.

We also discussed this in terms of what God is doing at Graham Friends these days. The direction we sense him moving here is toward discipleship and not just membership. This “word” from God comes through group Bible studies (notably the first Faith Lesson on the sixth DVD). But what we decided is that discipleship is not complete until it becomes membership in the living family of God and that, of course, is the Church. E. Stanley Jones said,

Conversion is the penitent, receptive response to the saving divine initiative in Christ, resulting in change, gradual or sudden, by which one passes from the kingdom of self to the kingdom of God and becomes a part of the living fellowship. the church…

This is the direction that God is taking us: conversion…discipleship…life in the Family. Is God getting his man or woman or are you trying to kick him?