June 14

Acts 9

I love reading the story of Saul's conversion to Paul.  Yes, all the stories we read and hear of how people to turn their life over to Christ are fascinating but what I think makes this story so unique is that Saul met Jesus when he was on his way to persecute the very people he was about to be converted into!!!  What I learned from this is that there is no "right" or "wrong" way to come to know the Lord.  The only way to come to faith in Jesus is whatever way God uses to bring you into a relationship with Him.  In that moment when Saul acknowledged Christ, he resolved to obey Him.  It's through a personal encounter with Jesus that conversion happens.  I also started to think about how this story of conversion and circumcision of the heart shows us the very heartbeat and pulse of the Gospel message. Forgiveness and eternal life are gifts of God's grace through faith in Christ and are available to everyone.  That's the bottom line.  It's so simple and we make it so hard for ourselves.  Jesus forgave Paul for every person he persecuted once Paul gave Him his heart.  Paul learned that his obedience and knowledge of the law did not put him in a right relationship with God and God used Paul's past so that Paul could serve the Lord with his future. I believe that hasn't changed and He does the same for us.  Jesus meets us where we are, breaks our chains that link us to our past and uses it all to build His Kingdom. I can't speak for anyone else, but for me that is a big WOW!!!   I pray we all have a Damascus road experience and an encounter with our King.  Like Paul, I pray our past becomes our testimony, our present life becomes our mission field, and our future rests in spending eternity with our King.


Randi