From Murderous Zealot to Zealous Apostle

In my quiet time this morning, I read the account of Saul's conversion in Acts 9. Each time I read this story, I am awed by the power of God to change lives. Saul was on his way to Damascus to persecute any Christians he found there. On the way, he had an encounter with the living Christ and days later he's out preaching Jesus as the Christ and using the Scriptures to prove that He was the Messiah.

I know that some people might say that if God appeared to them with a bright light, speaking audibly and blinding them, they too would change. That got his attention certainly. But I don't think that one incident, in and of itself, was enough to change his character. If God had not initiated the relationship and if he had not whole-heartedly believed in Jesus and given his life to him, there might have been a change for a while, but I don't think it would have been the transformation we see.

He went from being the one in charge, the one putting others to death, to the one whom others tried to kill. He gave up everything and spent himself for his Lord. Even though I am a Christian, and have been for years, I don't know if I would have the commitment that Paul (as God renamed him) had. I might have given up after being stoned and left for dead, or being shipped wrecked, or after the umpteen night when I went to bed hungry and cold. Not Paul. He counted all that as little compared to what he would gain in Christ (Romans 8:18). He never gave up, backed down, or let up.

His life was transformed by the Creator of life, the one who is Life, the Redeemer of our lives. It was the power of God, not the physical event, that changed Paul. And he was never the same again.

This gives me hope. I serve this same Christ. Though I still struggle with sin, I hold this hope and have this assurance that He is changing me, transforming me. Sometimes it seems to be happening slower than a snail's pace. But I know it's happening. Philippians 1:6 says that I can be confident that God will finish His work in me. Thank you God.

I have wondered several times what Paul's thoughts and emotions were during those three days of blindness and fasting? We know he was praying, because God tells Ananias that Paul is praying. How his mind must have been spinning at first. His world turned upside down. The One he had condemned to the world, he would now be proclaiming to the world. I wonder how many of the pieces fell into place during those three days? He obviously surrendered his life during that time as Ananias calls him "Brother Saul". In the days that followed that, he was out preaching, "proving that Jesus is the Christ" (Acts 9:22). Did God instruct him during that time, as Jesus did to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, on how all of the Scriptures fit together and pointed to Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah?

I don't know the answers to these musings, but this narrative fills me with a sense of wonder and awe at the Almighty God I serve. He's the only one who can truly change a person, and He wants to change each one of us.