Saul of Tarsus! Who would have ever thought that this man would become a follower of Jesus Christ? Yet, he met Jesus (vs. 13), and Jesus changed his life. From the moment of the initial change until the day of his death, Saul lifted up Jesus Christ and proclaimed that He is the long-awaited Messiah. Until the day he died in Rome, Saul, now called, Paul, sought to reach out to Jew and Gentile alike, obeying Jesus and seeking, as Jesus said, “to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me” (Acts 26:18).
The broken world of Saul’s day and the broken world of our day has not changed much. People still need a life-transforming relationship with God. God’s grace is so marvelous that God doesn’t write off people; not even Saul of Tarsus. God isn’t saying “Get in or get out.” He is saying, “Get in. Get in. Get in.” God still seeks entrance into our distracted, busy, and anxious lives. He is still calling people to turn from the darkness to the light, and from the dominion of Satan to God. God is still the God who receives and forgives and pours out His grace. God is still the God who comes into our lives and saves us from our on selves, from our own pride and lust and greed.
On the day of Pentecost God would pour out His Holy Spirit on His people and set into motion a force for God’s amazing love in the world. The early church saw itself as a movement for Jesus in the world. Wherever people of the church went, they lifted up Christ, and gave themselves to works God would have them do. Two thousand years later the force is still awakening the lives of broken, hurting, and hungry people.
Edward Gibbon, in his work, The Decline And Fall Of the Roman Empire, describes the early decades of this force for God’s love by saying,
A pure and humble religion gently insinuated itself into the minds of men, grew up in silence and obscurity, derived new vigor from opposition, and finally erected the triumphant banner of the Cross on the ruins of the Capitol.
That’s remarkable. Many people thought the Jesus’ Movement would die after a brief period, and become one more religion that could not stand the test of time. They were wrong. The Holy Spirit filled those people with the power of God, and used them in ways that most likely stunned even them. Today, the call of Jesus is still front and center, “to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.”
The story of Jesus is still being written and we are invited into it, with all the weight of the Holy Spirit behind us.
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