A New NormalSample

Day 21 

By Acts 21, Paul is embarking on his penultimate missionary journey towards Jerusalem, where the Holy Spirit has told him that he will be given the death penalty for being a Christian. 

Jerusalem is where it all began. Jesus died here, the Holy Spirit came here, and the Church was started here. This is also where Paul used to be called Saul. Jerusalem is Paul’s old normal. As he stood to preach in the temple, he would have recognised people in the crowd: a friend he grew up with, a relative who raised him or worse still, a soldier who he used to kill Christians with. But Paul wasn’t Saul anymore. His old normal had been made entirely new. 

Belief in Jesus means we will change. As we get closer to him, he transforms us into completely new people, such that our old self and our new self appears as two different people. If we allow him to, Jesus can change everything. The old truly can become new.