Changing a life
A story about the powerful way God can change a life, a heart – not just of Saul.
Acts 9:19b-31
19b Saul stayed with the believers in Damascus for a few days. 20 And immediately he began preaching about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is indeed the Son of God!”
21 All who heard him were amazed. “Isn’t this the same man who caused such devastation among Jesus’ followers in Jerusalem?” they asked. “And didn’t he come here to arrest them and take them in chains to the leading priests?”
22 Saul’s preaching became more and more powerful, and the Jews in Damascus couldn’t refute his proofs that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. 23 After a while some of the Jews plotted together to kill him. 24 They were watching for him day and night at the city gate so they could murder him, but Saul was told about their plot. 25 So during the night, some of the other believers lowered him in a large basket through an opening in the city wall.
26 When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to meet with the believers, but they were all afraid of him. They did not believe he had truly become a believer! 27 Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and told them how Saul had seen the Lord on the way to Damascus and how the Lord had spoken to Saul. He also told them that Saul had preached boldly in the name of Jesus in Damascus.
28 So Saul stayed with the apostles and went all around Jerusalem with them, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 He debated with some Greek-speaking Jews, but they tried to murder him. 30 When the believers heard about this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus, his hometown.
31 The church then had peace throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, and it became stronger as the believers lived in the fear of the Lord. And with the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it also grew in numbers.
Having been stopped in his tracks by Jesus, literally, Saul sets about bringing the truth of Jesus to the Jews in Damascus. What a surprise it must have been for them when Saul himself started “blaspheming” in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God, basically he was saying Jesus is God. You can imagine them heckling Saul- hang on you were active against Jesus until now! Have you lost your mind? How can we believe this?
This passage is a wonderful picture of the powerful way God can change a life. I have heard people say once you are 30 you are set in your ways and can’t change. Certainly, under our own power there is truth to this. But Saul’s life shows the transformation a revelation of God can bring. As he himself reflects on this time in Galatians 1, “I received it (the gospel) by revelation from Jesus Christ.”
He went from murderer and persecutor to bringing a message of eternal life and becoming a great church planter to the Gentiles (non-Jews). His mind and heart were so totally changed.
It is really worth reading Galatians 1 as Paul looks back on this time. He knew God had revealed himself to him and it was for the purpose of taking his good news beyond the Jewish world. Most of us owe him a huge debt.
God reveals himself to me in many ways. How does this change me? I want this to change me.
I have also been struck by how forgiving the apostles were when Saul fronted up to Jerusalem (true it was a few years later) and spent 2 weeks at Peter’s place (Gal 1:18). There is no way the apostle would have forgotten what Saul had been doing before when he supervised the killing of Stephen and had lots of believers arrested. What forgiveness Peter showed to welcome this man into his home and to his table.
I’m struck by how this can be true for me – people who have hurt me or worked against me, who may come to the Lord – what is also expected of me is forgiveness. What a shocking and difficult thing that is, if I’m honest. Thank you, Holy Spirit that you are enough for me in those times.
Written by Claire Moore