The change is shocking. Saul was ravaging the church, carrying off men and women to prison, and approving of the stoning of Stephen. Later, Saul increased in strength and confounded the Jews with his witness of Jesus as the Christ.
Acts 8:3 But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.
Acts 9:22 But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.
I am amazed when I read stories like Paul's, partly because my story is one similar to his. I despised Christianity. I scoffed at smiling Christians. I thought they were fake. I thought they were out to get something from me. I learned later that some of them truly loved me and truly cared because they were once where I was. Knowing the saving grace of Jesus Christ inspired them to love me and share the gospel with me.
Jesus changes people. He transforms them from the inside out. It is about the whole person including joy, forgiveness of sin, peace, purpose, relationship with God, restoration, intentions, eternal security, and much more. Saul went from a violent attacker of Christians to a passionate defender of the faith. Saul was a new and different man.
This is the type of transformation I experienced so many years ago. I am not the same person. I am a new man. I love the Lord and people. I desire to see others experience this same type of change. I still sin. I still mess up. I still struggle. But I am a different person.
I don't think much in society will change unless the hearts of the people change. What I see now is divisive antagonism and partisan shaming. The ones who appear to care the most often divide us, fueling the flame of discontent. This saddens me.
I think the greatest impact I can have on society is to be the different and new man in the lives of people. Loving the Lord, loving others, and sharing the great gospel story will impact people. I don't think it is effective or godly to demand everyone join me under threat of shaming.
I am in a confusing time. I am working through some personal struggles. But I am still the new man. I still love the Lord and love others. I still have what I have always had and can offer what I always could offer. I have the Lord.
I pray that each of us would experience this life-change Jesus offers and live the new life fully and unashamedly.
Taken from reading Acts 6-10
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