Acts 22 - Paul Sees the Light

6 “About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. 7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’ 8 “‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked. “ ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. 9 My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me. 10 “‘What shall I do, Lord?’ I asked. “ ‘Get up,’ the Lord said, ‘and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.

This is the famous story of the apostle Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus.  Paul was going there to persecute Jewish Christians and throw them into prison and he meets Jesus is a spectacular way.  Not only is he blinded by a briliant light, but he hears the Lord's voice audibly.  And the Lord asks him, "Lord, Lord why are you persecuting me!"  Paul thought he was serving the Lord, but he was persecuting him by rounding up the believers.  

In what sense was Paul persecuting Jesus when he persecuted the early Christians?  When we come to faith in Christ, His Holy Spirit comes to reside in us.  We are under new management.  As Jesus says, "We are born again not of the flesh but of the Spirit."  So when someone does something to us they are also doing it to Christ.  

In another sense of this idea, as believers we try to model Paul when he says, "Imitate me as I imitage Christ." 1 Corinthians 11:1  That is a bold thing to say.  After all sometimes we don't imitate Christ at all when we are living in the flesh.  A good question to ask ourselves is, "Is my life imitatable"?  

Finally, we can say the more we become like Christ, the more likely we are to be persecuted for our faith?  If are lukewarm Christians the likelihood of being persecuted is small.  But as we are bold in faith like the apostle Paul, we may face opposition.  Fortunately as John says in his first letter, "Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world." 1 John 4:4