Stop Kicking the Goads

It always amazes me how committed people are to fighting against God. It isn’t enough for them to refuse to accept God in their lives. They must force others to give up their faith in Him too. Whether it is mocking our faith or trying to silence our faith in the public square, there will always be, as there has always been, those who hate God so much they will stop at nothing to keep from hearing the Good News about Him.

As you know, this year our focus at Be Transfigured Ministries is on the Saints and their inspiration for us to Live A New Life In Christ. I try to include some reference to the Saint of the day in our daily blog, and today will be no different. It occurred to me, though, that so many of our saints are martyrs that you may have the impression that one must die a martyr’s death to become a saint. When you combine the large number of martyrs on the calendar along with my constant emphasis on the ascetic life, I’m not surprised if you think all saints are martyrs. Indeed many are martyrs, like today’s Saint Glykeria.

Saint Glykeria was a virgin martyr in 141 AD who gave her life not only refusing to worship idols, but because she personally destroyed a statue of Zeus. Should we be surprised by this story? By now, I’m sure you expect the saint to have lived a hero’s life. I recall one year many years ago during Vacation Bible School which had the theme of “The Martyrs”. Each morning we would read the story of a martyr to the students. By the end of the week, they would be calling out guesses on how the saint was martyred. “He was thrown down a marble staircase!” “She was sawn in two!” For Saint Glykeria, she cast to the wild beasts. May she intercede for us.

In those days, Philip was found at Azotos, and passing on he preached the gospel to all the towns till he came to Caesarea. But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he journeyed he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed about him. And he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, ” I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting; but rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul arose from the ground; and when his eyes were opened, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank. Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for a man of Tarsus named Saul; for behold, he is praying, and he has seen a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to thy saints at Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call upon thy name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized, and took food and was strengthened. – Acts 8.40-9.19

Saint Paul, like so many today, was committed to eliminating Christianity for the people, and like so many today, he was not successful. The pagan who killed Saint Glykeria were not successful. The Communists of the early 20th century were not successful. Attempt after attempt, and the Church is still standing for Christ and His love for humanity, but the devil will never stop trying. The devil continues to tempt and trick humanity into believing that God doesn’t really love us, and that God doesn’t really want us to live a holy life. That much hasn’t changed since the Garden.

Quite frankly, I’m not worried about being thrown down a marble staircase (that was Saint Kyrikos by the way who was martyred as a child) or cast to wild beasts. While that sort of martyrdom still happens in other parts of the world, in America our martyrdom is different. We are tempted in our hearts to love wealth and pleasure more than God. We don’t have to be forced to stop worshiping God, because we are so focused on our own pleasures, we freely ignore Him. That is much more dangerous than mean pagans chasing after us with pitchforks!

When our hearts are not focused on God, nothing else matters. We may go through life, maybe even encouraging others to “stop being so religious!” but like Saul and the ancient pagans, we will never succeed in eliminating the Church. Saul’s heart was converted, thankfully, and He became Saint Paul the greatest missionary for Christ the world has ever known! Has your heart been fully converted to Christ, or are you still “kicking against the goads?” (Acts 26.14) Goads are spikes! Stop kicking the goads….you’ll never succeed. You only end up hurting.