The High Horse

We admire the Apostle Paul for his writings and the great works he did.  Also, he had the great experience of meeting Jesus, which led him to change from persecuting the Christians to affirming them.  When Paul met Jesus for the first time, he was knocked off his horse and blinded. Then the conversation went like this;

And he (Paul) said, “Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” (Acts 9:5 KJV)

It was Paul’s tumble off the horse that gives us the expression of someone being on their “high horse”, or being proud.  That also is what the Lord pointed out to Paul; he was kicking against the circumstances in his life that were meant to bring him to Christ.  Instead of being a leader in the Jewish faith, Jesus called Paul to be His servant, and a leader in the Christian faith.

I am a teacher in a nursing program and have had many dedicated, hard-working students.  But I also have had those who challenge the amount of work we require of them.  Those students who tackled their preparation and cared for patients with all their hearts retained their lessons and made great nurses.  Those who rebelled did not. There is great gain in submitting to the circumstances of life. The rebellious do not make good servants.

If we look at Paul’s ministry, we see a similarity to Jesus’ ministry.  They both were servants to God, and they both submitted to hurtful and humiliating circumstances.  By submitting to the sufferings of this life, Jesus learned obedience to God and was able to do His glorious works (Heb 5:8).  Paul learned that the sufferings of this life were the wrapping paper on the gifts he gave on behalf of the Lord to others.  He writes;

“I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” (Phil 3:10-11)

Paul could heal the sick, raise the dead, evangelize and write scripture because he fellowshipped with Christ.

We also have pride to deal with, and occasionally, or more often than we’d like to admit it, we kick against the circumstances of our lives.  Some believe that their faith is meant to change unfavorable circumstances to pleasant circumstances.  Yet faith that resides in our head and does not produce any works is dead (Jms 2:17)  Our lives are meant to contain sacrifice.  We are encouraged to

“Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.” (Rm 12:1)

Clearly, God did not intend for our lives to go smoothly.  A smooth and carefree life should not be the goal of our faith.  A holy life, one in which we fellowship with Christ, should be our heart’s passion.  If we want to follow in Jesus’ footsteps and do His works, and the works of His great apostles, we cannot protect our lives from hardship.  Though our pride may rise up and demand that we be treated like a child of Christ, we are sons if we are humble, and servant-leaders when we partake of his sufferings (Rm 8:17).  Amen.