Our Vacation Bible School this year uses the train as a metaphor for the journey to heaven. We imagine that the train is symbolic for the church of Jesus Christ.
Consider what Paul did as he got on board the Kingdom Express. First of all, Paul had to be different. He wrote in Galatians 1:14 about his former manner of life. He was advancing in Judaism beyond many of his contemporaries. He was extremely zealous for his ancestral traditions. But when he gave his life to Jesus Christ, he gave that up. He chose to be different.
In Acts 22, Paul tries to explain to his fellow Jews why he accepted Christianity. It wasn’t simply because Christianity is a better religion than Judaism. It’s because Christianity is the end result of Judaism. But his peers did not like the change. “Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live!” they cried (Acts 22:22). Paul chose to stand up, stand out and be different.
Secondly, Paul made wise choices. In his defense before Governor Felix – defending himself for preaching the Gospel – Paul told him: “Neither in the temple, nor in the synagogues, nor in the city itself did they find me carrying on a discussion with anyone or causing a riot” (Acts 24:12). Paul was perceptive to what was going on around him and was careful to live a righteous life. “You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers,” he wrote to the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 2:10).
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Finally, Paul always put Jesus first. The new teachings of Jesus came ahead of Paul’s old religion. Jesus came before Paul’s own comfort and ease. Read what Paul endured in 2 Corinthians 11:22-29. Through it all, Paul kept teaching the truth and kept doing what Jesus wanted him to do. Again, to the Thessalonians Paul said, “You recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the Gospel of God” (1 Thessalonians 2:9).
May Paul be an inspiration to us to stay on the right track.
–Paul Holland
