Would You Have Listened to Paul? Another who offered fine counsel during the first century was the apostle Paul. At one time Paul too had a closed mind. He confessed: “Formerly I was a blasphemer and a persecutor and an insolent man. Nevertheless, I was shown mercy, because I was ignorant and acted with a lack of faith.” (1 Timothy 1:13) However, he accepted the truth about Jesus Christ and cast off his prejudices. His example shows that Bible truth can help ‘overturn strongly entrenched things’ in the heart if such things are detrimental to our well-being.—2 Corinthians 10:4. Once he had become a Christian, Paul went forth boldly to spread the good news that he had learned. And as would be expected, he met up with the same kind of closed-mindedness that he himself had once had—but not in every case. In Beroea, in northern Greece, he found some meekhearted ones who were a fine example of how to listen to counsel. These ones recognized the ring of truth in Paul’s words. Hence, “they received the word with the greatest eagerness of mind.” But they were open-minded, not gullible. They ‘carefully examined the Scriptures daily as to whether these things were so.’ (Acts 17:11) They liked what they heard, although they checked its authenticity with the Bible before completely accepting it.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Jun 2013 02:47:47 +0000