Acts 26:14-18

We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

Reflection:

This passage from Acts is Paul’s own salvation and transformation experience.  What we see is that what Paul was called to do does not match who and how Paul lived, felt, and thought at that time.  However, Paul is formed by the calling that he receives, where he goes from a persecutor to an apostle, from anger to love and forgiveness, hater of gentiles, to the apostle to the gentiles, from the person bent on destroying the work of the Lord, to the one who can no longer ignore the prodding of the kind Master. Paul was called to a life that was the complete opposite of how he had been breathing and living. Paul’s life was being formed by the Spirit!

Response:

Someone who truly cares and loves us wouldn’t let us remain in the same state of harming ourselves and others. When they know that we are to be a certain way, like in a parent and child relationship, the former’s love shows in speaking truth that brings life transformation and hope. Because they often see what we don’t, let’s be willing to be knocked to the ground and hear what they have to say. In a deeper way, when the Lord calls us, we cannot help but turn. Let’s pray today that we have the eyes to see and ears to hear the Spirit’s urging to turn because we have already been formed by Him.