“Who is speaking, Sir?” Paul asked. And the voice replied” I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city, and await my further instructions.”Acts 9:5-6 (TLB)
Nothing in the Scriptures shows a more dramatic u-turn than the story of Saul, renamed Paul. There was no one less likely to become an evangelist. Paul was so angry at the Christians that he started a campaign to arrest or kill every one of them. Armed with warrants from the Priests, he carried the authority to arrest every Christian in Damascus, and bring them back to Jerusalem for trial. Paul thought he was honoring God by defending the Law, but the Good Shepherd had something else in mind.
More than his name was changed that day. After meeting Jesus, Paul was never the same. When we meet Jesus, do we show dramatic differences between our pre-Christ and post-Christ lives? Do we use the same language, watch the same TV shows, and look at the same filth on the internet? If we are not different after we meet the King, we need to ask why not. A popular song goes “what about the change, what about the difference?” Well, what about the change, what about the difference? If you’re not seeing it, and other people aren’t seeing it, then, Einstein, maybe it ain’t there!
Paul stunned the people of Damascus when he went to the Temple, not to arrest Christians, but to praise the risen One! The believers there had heard of his coming and were in great fear. And here he was, preaching about their Master? Paul’s reputation had preceded him to Damascus. But the trials and tribulations he would face, the beatings he suffered, show that Paul was no counterfeit. Jesus Christ had changed him. Has an encounter with the Prince of Peace changed you? Have you had your “Damascus Road experience?” Like Paul, we are changed forever when we meet the light of the world. Anything else is just “playing Christian!”
Copyright 2007 Timothy E. Davis