Based on Acts 26:1-23 (New King James Version)
“Then Agrippa said to Paul, ‘You are permitted to speak for yourself.’ So Paul stretched out his hand and answered for himself: ‘I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because today I shall answer for myself before you concerning all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, especially because you are expert in all customs and questions which have to do with the Jews. Therefore I beg you to hear me patiently. My manner of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own nation at Jerusalem, all the Jews know. They knew me from the first, if they were willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee. And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers. To this promise our twelve tribes, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to attain. For this hope’s sake, King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews. Why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead? ‘Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities. While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, at midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’ Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance. For these reasons the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come—that the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.’”
All of us that have been born again in Christ started as something completely different. We see in today’s passage how Paul tells of his conversion, and what he used to do before coming to Christ, and how God transformed and converted him into something completely different and contrary to what he was. Saul (or Paul) was an extremely religious man, even to the point of feeling such zeal for his religion that he even persecuted the church, and jailed and consented in the death of many (as he consented in Stephen’s death). He did what he did not because he liked hurting people like some have erroneously assumed. Before Christ, Paul was a powerful man, with great political support, very educated, of the Hebrew aristocracy, a Roman citizen, and quite possibly, rich as such. But, by seeing his writings and stories, we see a person that is completely different, that he left everything for this new faith in Christ, and that history tells us that he traveled more than 10,000 miles (16,000 km) preaching this Gospel, and that he was even decapitated for his faith in Christ in the end. From being someone powerful, rich, strong, he ended up in another faith; and humanly speaking—poor, persecuted, and even died prematurely. What can cause such a transformation in a person, and moreover, take them to a complete reverse of what many would consider as something crazy and undesirable; especially comparing his life to today’s mainstream Christianity?
The issue is quite simple. He had an encounter with God, with Jesus Christ. And when he had that encounter, there was a transformation in the way he felt and thought, something happened at the center of his being in those moments that made him become a completely different person. Instead of continuing his persecution of the Church, his course changed, there was instant repentance and conversion. At that moment, Paul felt He found something, or Someone, much greater than what he thought and believed. He found Someone of greater worth and power than his human status, his human powers, his human wealth, and even his religious beliefs. He found himself completely overtaken by God, and he abandoned everything he was and had for Someone he esteemed as greater and more worthy, like he said it himself: “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.” Philippians 3:7-9.
Can anyone come to this? And the answer is, yes. Everyone that desires to truly know God can do it through Jesus Christ. Paul did what he did before coming to Christ because he thought he was serving God, and Christ came to encounter him so He could help him take the right path. God tries to do the same with all of us, in one way or another. The problem is that many people are too focused in other things that they lose sight of the shining of God’s glory. Do you think you have not had the opportunity Paul had? You are wrong. Do you not see the sunshine or hear the great works of the Creator, or smell the fragrance of His creation? All of our senses are capable of sensing God’s glory, day after day; and the death and resurrection of the same Christ that Paul believed is the same we have today. The issue is simply that there is no true repentance or conversion in many people because they are looking to justify sin and their love for the world rather than appreciating the greatness of Almighty God, the same Jesus that Paul saw on the way to Damascus. Many are more content or still searching for the crumbs of this age. “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” Acts 3:19.
When you give yourself the opportunity to see the glory of God through Jesus Christ, and you come to a true repentance and conversion, then you will start to understand what was that thing that motivated Paul (that also motivates me), and God will start to change your life, as it is written: “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” Galatians 5:24. So then, have you decided to abandon your sin and truly follow Christ so you can be transformed by Him? Lord bless! John