Don't Give Up on Someone, God Doesn't!

As the early church faced persecution from their fellow Jews, one of the most zealous persecutors was a man named Saul from Tarsus.  Little did Saul know how much his life would change on his road to Damascus. 

Saul’s Conversion

9 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” 5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

This is one of the most famous conversion stories in the bible.  It is unique in that Jesus appeared to Saul personally and powerfully.  There are several things that happened in the church as a result of Saul, who later became named Paul, becoming a believer in Jesus.  

1. We learn that when a believer is being persecuted it is Jesus himself who is being persecuted.  When you are being persecuted in any way it is Christ in you the hope of glory whom your persecutor is targeting.  While some may welcome us when they learn we are a Christian, others will not. 

2. Ananias, a prophet, receives a word from God to go to a certain place where he would meet Saul who was blinded by his meeting with Jesus.  Ananias had heard bad reports about Saul, but in obedience goes to where Lord told him to go.  When Ananias meets Saul and then lays hands on him something likes scales fall from his eyes.  Saul was filled with the Holy Spirit and baptized by Ananias.  

3. Saul spent many days in Damascus preaching and teaching that Jesus was the Messiah. The people there as well asked, "Wasn't this the man who raised so much havoc on Jesus' followers?"  Saul became more and more powerful as he baffled those who tried to debate with him on the subject of Jesus being the Messiah.

4. Finally, when Saul was run out of town by the Jews, he went to Jerusalem and visited the disciples who were gathered there.  Similarly when the disciples discovered it was Saul, they were worried knowing his background.  But Barnabas stepped in and shared Saul's conversion story.  Saul continued to debate with the Hellenist Jews debating and proving that Jesus was the Messiah, and it made them so mad they ran him out of town too.

So what can we learn about this incredible story?  God never gave up on Saul and used his previous zeal to preach and evangelize the Jews, and then Gentiles.  Saul's encounter with Jesus changed his life and the church forever.  But we also see two key people who went to bat for Saul though it was probably very unpopular.  Ananias and Barnabas trusted that God could make radical changes in people's lives.  Who would have thought Paul, one of the greatest persecutors of Christians, would become one of the greatest apostles of all time. 

Don't give up on someone who may be far from God.  Pray for them.  Who knows you may be a Ananias or Barnabas in someone's life?  Remember no one is too far from God that God can't change their life and sometimes they end up being used mightily by Jesus to reach others. 

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