Not So Quick

There are moments which change who we are.  Perhaps, it is more appropriate to say that there are moments which begin an unfolding process of change whether we are ready for it or not.  It may be true that we can be changed by a single experience, but to look at such a moment more reflectively is to understand that we were moving toward that moment long before it came.  Such is the case with Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus Road.  Preachers like myself have used that Biblical story many times to illustrate what might be called an instantaneous conversion.  (Acts 9).  Sometimes I wonder if such a thing exists.  

For example, when we first see Saul of Tarsus, he is a coat watcher for those who threw stones and killed Stephen.  (Acts 7:59).  What this tells us is that Saul heard Stephen's sermon.  He saw the violent reaction of those who were threatened by the young man.  He, along with others, was in the overflow of the heavenly shower of blessings which fell upon the servant of Jesus.  He went along with the others as they dragged Stephen out of the city to the place of stoning.  He watched the coats of those who threw the stones and he heard Stephen cry out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." (Acts 7:60).  Saul was complicit in everything.   

We cannot read the story which opens up for us in the book of Acts without seeing the connection Luke was making between the stoning event and the saving event.  It has often been said that the church is built upon the blood of the martyrs.  Certainly,  the conversion of Saul is an illustration of this truth.  Saul of Tarsus may have come to his senses and opened his life to Jesus on the Damascus road, but it started back on that day, and, perhaps, even before when he witnessed the death of a man who willingly gave his life for the Christ.