"Blasting the Darkness" September 16 Readings: Acts 9

Today's Reading - Acts 9

Background

Acts 9 is one of the significant turning points in Scripture, especially those that do not have to do with the life of Christ. Of course, Christmas, the events of Holy Week, Pentecost - these are the greatest moments in history. But is was a significant day when the man from Tarsus was headed toward Damascus breathing out murderous threats and suddenly was on the ground having been overwhelmed by a visitation from heaven.

This was a unique and heavenly evangelistic effort. Normally God doesn't send visions but people to talk to sinners. But Saul heard from heaven and was gloriously changed. The enemy of the cross became its champion. The fact is that there has been no greater proclaimer of the truths of God's righteousness than Saul, later Paul. 

Devotional - Blasting the Darkness

In my youth, I was often jealous of those people who had the amazing testimonies of God's saving power. Drug addicts. Gangsters. Criminals. Forgiven and delivered from sin. I was raised in a Christian home, saved at age 6, and most of my sins were either sins of the heart or sins of my big, fat mouth. I have come to believe for a variety of reasons that "raised in a Christian home and saved at an early age" is a great testimony of God's saving power, but that is another story for another time.

Acts 9 records one of the most dramatic stories of conversion in the Bible - more than that, in church history. Saul of Tarsus left Jerusalem breathing out murderous threats against those who were later called Christians, carrying with him letters from the high priest authorizing him to arrest followers of Christ. By the end of the chapter, those same authorities that granted Saul permission to terrorize the Christians were scheming to kill him because he was now a powerful advocate for Jesus Christ.

What a difference a few verses make!

How encouraging this passage is, giving us hope that even the hardest hearts, the angriest spirits, the most determined enemies of Christianity can be brought to faith by the power of God. No one would have believed that Saul would be God's chosen apostle (9:15) to carry the gospel to the Gentiles. No one. Ananias certainly didn't. He recoiled from his assignment to go and speak to Saul when God came to him in a vision. Petrified at the prospect, he went to visit Saul. But he found that the words of God were as true as always. Saul was no longer breathing murderous threats but was a broken man, a humbled man, a changed man.

What made that difference? Simple. Light from heaven.

Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. (9:3)

It was a little more dramatic in this case, but there is only one way that any sinner can be turned from darkness to light, from death to life. It takes the light from heaven. God must reveal himself, by his Spirit, to the sinner, convicting him of sin and calling him to repentance. For Saul, this calling was physical. For the rest of us, it is spiritual, an inner work of the Spirit. But only when the light from heaven shines on us will we be drawn to Christ.

What does that mean for your evangelistic efforts? Three truths rise to the surface here. First, no one is beyond hope. Saul would have been voted, "Least Likely to Be Redeemed" in any poll taken in the church. But God shined the light on him and he was saved. There is no heart so hardened, there is no soul so sinful, there is no mind so skeptical that the saving grace of God cannot reach into it. Keep praying. Keep ministering. Keep loving. Keep going.

Second, remember that it takes the work of God to save. We can proclaim the truth of the gospel. We can speak the truth. We can live the life of Christ in front of sinners. But only God can save. Only God can bring conviction to the sinner's heart. We need to proclaim Christ and entrust the work of conviction to the Spirit alone.

Finally, we must remember that God shines his light through us - through our testimony and our lives that bear witness to the reality of that testimony. In this story, God's light was more direct, but that is an exception and not the rule. God uses people to accomplish his work. We are the moon, reflecting the glorious light of his Son.

Father, I thank you for shining the light of heaven on my soul. Through me, shine it in others' lives and in this world. 

Think and Pray

Are you praying for a "Saul" - someone hopeless? Remember that God is able to save even the hardest cases. Do not give up and trust the power of Christ to reach even those we view as beyond hope.