The Essential Question (Part 4): The Good News Changes LivesSample

Seeing the Light

Prepare: What convinces you that Jesus is alive and that he wants to know you?

Read: Acts 9:1-9

Reflect: According to The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, the phrase "see the light" originated in the late 1600s and was used to indicate religious conversion. Maybe so. But I'd say we can make a stronger case that the phrase was inspired by Luke's description of what happened on the road to Damascus, probably around A.D. 33. Our current passage contains the ultimate example of seeing the light (9:3-6), which changed Saul's life and the world forever.

For me, this famous conversion account raises two challenging questions. First, why was Saul such an angry young man? The simple answer is, he didn't like Christians. To him, they were traitors and heretics, so they needed to be stopped. But the rest of the story is more complex. On some level, Saul's anger was an expression of his passion for God or at least his view of God. No doubt he was also defending his turf, that is, the nation of Israel and the temple. Or he could have been trying to earn the approval of his superiors, proving he was gung ho for God and ready for a big promotion.

But whatever the rationale, Luke wants to make sure we understand the vehemence of Saul's opposition to "the Way" (9:2), because it dramatically underscores the power of God to change lives. Only God could transform a person known for "breathing out murderous threats" against the followers of Christ (9:1) into the greatest Christian evangelist the world has ever known (9:20-22) and do it in a flash. Most conversions are not this dramatic. But whenever a person accepts Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, it is no less miraculous. The convert is immediately transferred from what Saul later described as "the dominion of darkness" to "the kingdom of light" (Colossians 1:12-14)-and better than anyone else Saul would understand what that involved.

The second question that emerges from this passage is this: Why did God choose Saul for such a divine intervention in the first place? Weren't there others around who were more acceptable, or at least less volatile? Probably. But again, God's choice underscores the miracle of salvation. The point is, Saul didn't deserve it, but God saved him anyway. As a result, Saul became a living definition of God's grace. As Saul later wrote, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).

The fact is, we don't fully know why God chose Saul. Or why he chose any of us, for that matter. All we know is that he did, and we should be eternally thankful. Through Saul's unlikely conversion, God communicated some essential truths about the nature of his good news, truths he went to great lengths to ensure that his church, and the world, would never forget.

Apply: In what way are you "a living definition of grace"? Jot down your answer and then decide if you'd like to share it with a Christian friend or family member.