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.
Acts 9:1-2

You remember Saul of Tarsus. He approved of the murder of Steven (Acts 8:1). His near maniacal zeal to rid the earth of Christians escalated to the point that Saul traveled some distance to hunt down believers as far away from Jerusalem as Damascus, Syria (over 135 miles away!).

Obeying the Law as Saul understood it, he went through the proper channels. He got “letters” (permits) to arrest believing Jews from the synagogues. It was all neat, in order, and by the book. But it was murder and treason against the God in whose name Saul thought he was acting. Hating Christians had become as natural to Saul as breathing (look back at v.1).

Who says, “It doesn’t matter what one believes as long as one is sincere!?” Saul was beyond sincere. He had been “radicalized,” to use a modern term we associate with Islamist extremists. Yet he was not only hateful of people—people who were the children of God—He was opposing God Himself. (More on that when we get to (v.4).

The standard by which we must judge right and wrong, good and evil, is not our feelings, but the Word of God. While I am reasonably sure no one reading this would ever justify murder based on feelings, our culture, and at times even we ourselves, make important decisions with little or no regard for God’s Word because we are driven by our feelings.

Let us ask God for discernment to know when we are operating contrary to God’s Word because we are following our feelings. And let us as God for self control to not do this.