The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1960-01-22

doesn't stop with
thinking. It goes DR.. Foreman
on to doing, becoming. Something
happens to the people who believe.
The Second Mile
In the book of Acts we have
glimpses of the changes that come
into life that God has touched. The
writer Of Acts was not philos-
opher or theologian, he was a
doctor, he was interested in symp-
toms. In his story of Pauls first
visit to the little city Of Philippi,
he gives us the symptoms of being
a Christian. First there was this
woman, Lydia. Women had more
freedom in the Greek world than in
the Jewish world. This lady was
a business woman, an independent
merchant, presumably successful
for she owned house large enough
to hold a number Of house guests.
You might have thought Lydia did
not need to be converted. She at
tended prayer meeting, she was
worshiper of God. But she wasn't
already a Christian, though she
was on the way. This good woman
we read, Opened her heart" to
what Paul was saying. We know
that Paul would be telling the story
of Jesus. This God in whom Lydia
already believed, this God she al
ready worshiped, had actually
come to earth, lived, suffered, died,
risen again, In the person and the
life Of Jesus. Paul would certainly
be saying that Christ died for us
-. We don't know for certain what
Paul said, but we do know this good
praying woman opened her heart.
Just as simple as that. Now she
was not a wicked person The
change God wrought in her was not
bad-to-good, it was good-to-better.
Sanity
Then we have the strange little
story of the poor slave girl who
told fortunes. Today they would
send her to a psychiatric hospital.
In the language Of that day, when
Paul spoke to her the evil spirit
came out Of her. Now this girl was
not bad, she was weak. She was no
better than a trained seal, thing
to make dishonest money with. She
was not running away from God or
hating him. she very likely hated
the sort of life she had to live
What we know about her is that
the change which came over her
took her out of the class of half
human things and made her a true
person. She was no longer con-
trolled by her masters, no longer
by an uncanny spirit. She was q
human being in her own right. The
change Christ made In her was not
wickedto-good, but weak-to-
strong, mental sickness to mental
health, sub-human to human.
Conversion Of q Brute
Finally we have the story Of the
jailer in that same city. Here was
a genuine bad-to-good change. You
would probably have said there
was just no use hoping for any.
thing good to come into his life
He was man brutalized by his
occupation, a man who made his
living by being cruel to helpless
people. Paul himself had $50 far as
we read) made no effort to convert
+ him. But from the moment Paul
said to him, "Believe-", something
amazing happened in that man. 1t
is a mistake to expect that when
you have faith, something is going
to happen to you. It may, or it may
not. What is certain, If you are
really converted, is that something
IS going to happen in you. We do
not read that Lydia began to make
money faster than ever We do
know the poor slave-girl was out
of a job - and 50 was the jailer,
perhaps. What was important,
what they all experienced, was the
power of God. In one person that
power took woman farther along
the road she was travelling; in
another that power took a girl out
of degradation to dignity: in an
other, it changed cruelty to mercy.
But always the same God!
Biased ON outlines ccryrishted by
the Division Of Christian Education.
National Council Of the Churches Of
Christ in the e. S. A. Released by
sruf<~y prAas