Paul An Apostle of Jesus

I still hurt. I had to block my cousin once removed. I won’t name them here. But I will elaborate. First off, my cousin went and voted for Kamala. They bragged about it too. Then, my cousin went and posted in favor of terrorist Hamas. The cousin does not make good decisions, for some reason. Last, but not least, I believe my cousin is the force that destroyed my single greatest relationship I ever developed with another human being. The cousin accomplished what they set out to do, and once completed, would not talk with me at all. Except to say, “Go away”, when I confronted them on supporting Hamas. So, I replied with “If I had children, I would not let you watch them”. My cousin would not hurt anyone, but I doubt that they would make good decisions for them. So- I blocked them, after “liking” there post, so that they would know I was complying. I am very sad, and heart broken over the entire ordeal. I will never fully understand why. I don’t want revenge, rather I want restoration. At this point, only Jesus can restore things- I believe He will too.

This is my current reading project. Fascinating, that right before I begin taking Logic at University, that I found a biography on, none other than Paul the Apostle. I believe it was a divine discovery at Barnes and Nobles. It was the final copy available, and someone else was already looking in that direction. So, I made sure that I was not stealing it from under there nose.

Anyways, I just finished Chapter 4 Antioch. By the fourth chapter I finally realized, to get the most out of this book, I need a copy of the Bible handy. I originally ignored the notes, but I found the information beginning in note 6 to be the most interesting to me. So, I copied the scriptures into my note book. The author, N.T. Wright was explaining about how Paul and Barnabas dealt with the question of non-Jews being among Jews, which was an offense to some. But it was because Paul feared he had labored in vain at times. Here is from Thessalonians 1.

2:1 You know, brothers and sisters, that our time with you was not wasted.

3:5 But when I couldn’t wait any longer, I sent Timothy to find out about your faith. I wanted to see whether the tempter had in someway tempted you, making our work meaningless.

Philippians 2:16 as you hold firmly to the word of life. Then I can brag on the day of Christ that my effort was not wasted and that my work produced results.

I wanted to include these notes because, I was compelled to write them down in my note book. In order to more correctly follow along. As I said earlier, this study of Paul will require having my Bible handy.

The author went into a little bit, explaining that the church at Antioch sought to meet the needs of the believers in Jerusalem. The believers in Antioch were non-Jewish primarily, and the Jews in Jerusalem were not exactly sure how to receive Titus, because he was not circumcised. Paul and Barnabas had brought Titus with them. Wright referenced Galatians 2. I will not transcribe it here, but you can reference it for yourself. In Galatians 2, Peter travels to Antioch, and at first would mingle with the non-Jewish believers. But later, he held back because of the Jewish believers who had followed him. Paul calls Peter a hypocrite, but I couldn’t help but notice his manner was slightly racist to, towards the non-Jewish believers.

I know the book is about Paul, and not Peter, but I felt compelled to address this issue. For precisely the reason that I posted Psalm 13. Both David, a man after God’s own heart, and Peter the Apostle had doubts and struggles with belief in God, and obeying God. Eventually, Peter makes his own journeys, the author mentions this, to Corinth and eventually to Rome. I remember Acts used to say that Peter went to Japan. That must have been a complete culture shock to him. Eventually, he overcame his racism somehow.

Anyways, its encouraging to know that Barnabas came to get Paul, and at this point, they have a unique partnership. But even Barnabas was persuaded by Peter, to abstain from eating and associating with the non-Jewish believers, the Christians. I enjoy reading all about these faithful followers of Jesus, and there faith struggles too. Just like we have today. It makes me thankful, that God has not thrown me aside, but that He has a purpose for me, especially in light of my broken heart. That is what prompted me to share all this. I had a sudden inspiration to write about what I was reading, but I related it to my sorrow too, because God meets us in our sorrows. We ought to give Him thanks for that, because if He didn’t do that, then all would be lost, and we would have no one to turn to in such cases. Jesus says in Revelations that for those who believe, “All things will be made new”. Please pray for me, because I am going through such a struggle.

Thank you for reading my blog! God bless you.