Saul of Tarsus was a devout man of Jewish faith. To say, “devout,” is probably an understatement. He was a pious, fervent, committed, serious, and staunch believer in Judaism. Then the foundation of his entire life was rocked by the voice of Jesus as Saul traveled the road to Damascus where he was going to bring Christians to Jerusalem to face the fathers of the Jewish community. Jesus said to Saul, “Why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4). And, whatever happened in his heart that day, changed him forever. He immediately began “to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ‘He is the Son of God’” (Acts 9:20).
Saul’s conversion would reach far beyond Damascus, and rock the world both of his day and ours. Not many days into His new life in Christ, however, certain people “plotted together to do away with him” (vs. 23). Some of Saul’s friends helped him get out of Damascus and took him to Jerusalem. Because of his reputation, Saul wasn’t freely accepted among the believers. They just couldn’t believe a man could so radically change his life; not Saul, at least. Fortunately, God raised up a man named, Barnabas, who took Saul under his wings and received him as a real brother in Christ (see verse 27). Saul’s story had just begun and it would have many ups-and-downs and ins-and-outs. However, God used this man in tremendous ways and, through him, began the ongoing evangelizing and discipling of people around the world, an evangelizing and discipling that is still underway twenty centuries later.
I know that none of us is Saul, but I wonder how God has changed our lives? Has God rocked our inner world? Is God speaking into our circumstances, and conditions through us. Or, perhaps, to see it differently, has God used us as a Barnabas to some young believer who is just getting started in their journey with Jesus?
We need each other in our faith journey. We aren’t Lone Rangers. We are the community of Jesus in the world. The Church is that safe place where people can come, get their spiritual bearings, and become a part of the Body of Christ in their lives and in their world. Of the early Church, Acts 9:31 says, “So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase.”
As we journey in the power of the Holy Spirit may it happen again in our day. Is it possible that God could raise of some folks whose lives have been so rocked by Jesus, that they become witnesses of the grace, mercy, power, and love of God? I don’t know how to reach an aggressive, distracted, preoccupied world that moves to the drumbeat of power, lust, and money. I’m quite sure, however, the Holy does know how. In that light, God help us to live in such a way that God might slip into our communities in ways we never dreamed possible, and turn the world right-side-up, and fulfill His passion for His creation.
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