True conversions

With clenched fists Saul left the temple office with letters of condemnation for all Christians living in Damascus. The High Priest had sensed his hatred towards Christians and granted his request to bring them back bound. He hated “The Way”, as it was known in Jerusalem, because they believed that that the Nazarene was the anointed son of God. Saul vehemently opposed them in view of their belief that Jesus was the true Messiah and that He had risen from the dead.

With clenched fists Saul left the temple office with letters of condemnation for all Christians living in Damascus. The High Priest had sensed his hatred towards Christians and granted his request to bring them back bound. He hated “The Way”, as it was known in Jerusalem, because they believed that that the Nazarene was the anointed son of God. Saul vehemently opposed them in view of their belief that Jesus was the true Messiah and that He had risen from the dead.

Saul was looking forward to quenching the expansion of this growing phenomenon and it’s all he could think about as he started his travels that would take a week to reach his intended destination. For the first fifty miles he breathed threats to himself regarding these followers of Jesus and imagined dragging these cult members shackled back to Jerusalem and into prison where they belonged.

Saul’s donkey kicked up a cloud of dust as he made his way over the rise. The scorching sun was just a dot hanging directly overhead as he lifted the goat skinned bag and poured water down his parched throat. Several other men were traveling with him but were not as focused on persecuting members of “The Way” as was Saul. They were merely part of a paid contingent that would help escort the prisoners back to Jerusalem.

On the third day, as he neared Damascus, a bright column of intense light beamed around him illuminating and temporarily blinded all who looked at it. Disorientated Saul fell to the ground, closed his eyes and covered his face.

 “Saul, Saul why are you persecuting me?” thundered a magnificent voice which echoed through the partially clouded midday sky.

“Who are you, Lord?” replied Saul as he took away his hands from his face and opened his eyes. He was completely blind as the thundering voice returned “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”

Visibly shaken, blind and in shock, Saul had no choice but to allow the men he was traveling with to lead him by the hand into the city. Once there they left him at the house of Judas where he neither ate nor drank for three days. In a vision Saul saw a man named Ananias lay hands on him to restore his sight. Soon the vision became a reality when a man named Ananias laid hands on him as something like scales fell from his eyes.

The conversion of Saul shows us that anyone can be saved no matter what their background, or what they have said or done in the past.  It reveals the sovereignty of God and the purpose of our King to turn the hearts of the lost towards His purpose.

So this oppressor of the church was forced to be led by the hand into a house of a complete stranger, someone who he meant to harm, where he remained for three days in the dark.

So maybe your conversion wasn’t quite as intense as Saul’s. Maybe you didn’t get goose bumps, receive a word from a stranger or begin speaking in tongues but none the less your heart was changed as invisible spiritual scales fell from your eyes. What seemed like utter nonsense before you believed is now the truth that can set all men free.

In the life of Saul, he went from a hater of Christians and persecutor of “The Way” to a man who was willing to be beaten with rods, scourged to within an inch of his life, lost at sea and shipwrecked, imprisoned and even stoned just in order to tell people that that Jesus Christ died, was buried and rose from the dead back to life!

True conversion will change the way you live your life. If you say you believe in Jesus Christ but worship anything else maybe you still need God to remove the scales from your eyes. The amazing thing about this story is that God cared for Saul while he was yet a sinner and went out of His way to meet him on the road to Damascus.

The truth is, God loves us and is not angry nor does He desire to punish us. He only wants us to turn to Him, love Him and live our lives in ways that glorify His Son. God loves the world He created and everyone in it. He had a plan before the foundations of this world were formed. So now we have a choice to live in a way that puts a smile on His face or continue to feed our own flesh.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that who so ever believed in Him would not perish but receive everlasting life. With God nothing is impossible.