Acts 26:14-17 – Three Roots of the Legalist's Leniency



14 And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ 15 So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 16 But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. 17 I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you. From Acts 26


On the television show This Is Us, new mother Kate comes face-to-face with legalism. She is overwhelmed that her world is changing around her, and she is taken aback by the priority her neighbor puts on where the car is parked. She has her own drama. Not today, she says.

But because of her self-assertion and special pleading, she hears the neighbor's story. He isn't the television trope meant to make our heroes seems well-balanced with his carping complaint. The car blocking part of the sidewalk represents more than an automobile to him. The neighbor is recovering from a stroke, and the opportunity to navigate the sidewalk to walk around the block each day represents normalcy and accomplishment to him.


He fights on every front.

He denies a great salvation.

He is a breath or two from repurposed zeal.

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