Paul's Bravery

Week 9 (3-7-13)

The last section of Acts consists of Paul’s many drawn out trials before different judges and rulers, his encounter in which Agrippa was almost converted, and finally his shipwreck with Luke in which they ended up on the island of Melita.  Can I just say that Paul had a really rough life? I mean that it wasn’t enough that he had been stoned  and beaten, persecuted, and unjustly put on trial—he had to be under house arrest for years and then shipwrecked because the sailors wouldn’t  listen to his advice.  The thing that stuck to me in these chapters was Paul recounting the story of his conversion to the people in chapter 22. Paul is very open and does not hide the fact that he was once one of them that persecuted the Christians. He owns up to the fact that he was present during Stephens’s martyrdom and even help by holding the coats of those that stoned him.  Paul had done a lot of great and marvelous things after his conversion; however this one seems to be especially brave to me. It’s hard to own up to the fact that you’ve down wrong, but to testify about it to others, and use it as a tool to show your conversion and admit how wrong you were in the past is a very humbling concept. I admire Paul, for he realized that he was not perfect and didn’t shy away from his misdeeds—but took responsibility.