Conversion Story (Paul)

Act 8:1  And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles. 

Act 8:2  And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. 

Act 8:3  As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison. 

Paul (Saul) consented to the death of the first Christ follower martyr, Stephen. God knew Paul agreed that Stephen should be stoned to death. Paul watched Stephen being stoned, saw the rocks hitting him, cutting into his flesh, life blood pouring from his body, his skull being battered, fractured. Paul was most likely thrilled at this Christ follower's death. After Stephen was killed, the Christ followers scattered, no longer grouping together. Paul took advantage of the scattering and wreaked havoc on the Christ followers. He went into every house--  how many houses? EVERY HOUSE. Grabbing up men and women he put them all in prison, any suspected Christ follower was jailed. Paul did this with zeal, thrilled with the work he was doing for God.

Now, let us remember this and consider the things Paul thought about as he spent three days and nights blind- in total darkness, not eating or drinking. 

Act 9:9  And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink. 

Christ spoke with Paul. Christ blinded Paul. Christ gave Paul a chance to believe and Paul took that chance. Paul didn’t demand to be taken back to where he'd come from. Paul didn’t outright rant and rave, denying what had just happened to him. Paul was given three days of blindness as his entire life was being changed all because his greatest desire in life was to please God. EVERYTHING he thought he knew to be true, everything was changed. The Messiah he'd been waiting for, the same Messiah his entire race of people had been waiting for, for thousands of years had walked the earth and HE'D denied HIM! He'd cheered and celebrated with his fellow Pharisees when the Jesus problem was taken care of on the cross. He then earnestly and happily hunted down the followers of the Messiah and had them imprisoned and consented to their death. He wasn't one of the Apostles, he wasn't one of the disciples of the Messiah. He hadn't spent years with the Messiah, learning at his side, witnessing the true Son of God on earth! He'd missed it all because he'd been caught up in the lies he'd been fed for years. Yet others who were raised like him hadn't been caught up in the lies. Some, though very few, had met with the Messiah and talked with Him. Some had questioned whether or not the man could truly be the Messiah, but not him! He was too deep into what he believed with truth. He was so deep into the lies that he thought were truth that he was ready to stop at nothing to defend that truth. 

Christ came to Him and gave Him the chance to turn from the lies and towards the truth and he did.

Three days of darkness, introspection, admitting, surrendering, confessing, repenting, sorrowing, and yes, there had to be some joy, right? Joy that he was not left in the lies. Joy that while he wasn’t a Christ follower when Christ walked the earth, he wasn't left to die in his lies, die in his sins, die a traitor to the God he truly loved! 

How many of us have a conversion story to tell? All of us come from darkness to light, from lies to truth, or should I say, most of us do. Some come from the deepest darkness that exists, others from darkness that would keep them from the light of truth that isn't the darkest it could be- but they know that any darkness no matter how little is enough to keep the light of truth from shining in their heart.  We have conversion stories to tell. What's yours?

Father in Heaven, we ask you to please touch our hearts, remove the scales from our spiritual eyes, take us from the darkness that tries so hard to destroy us and keep us from YOU. Please, Father, let YOUR will be done now and forever, on earth and in heaven! Please, Father, forgive us, and help us to forgive others as YOU would have us forgive them all! Let Your kingdom come! Let Your will be done! Give us all we need to be YOURS. All through Your Son, You only begotten, declare Son, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior now and forever!!!!!!!