What Holds Your Attention?

Saul of Tarsus was a highly educated Hebrew, a Roman citizen, schooled in Greco-Roman philosophy, trained under one the premier Rabbis of his day, Gamaliel He had memorized the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms as well as the Mishnah and Midrash, the commentaries on the Law & Prophets. He was a firm believer that IF God’s people would only keep the Law, then God would intervene, throw off their enemies and restore Israel’s former glory. Performance was tantamount.

In Acts chapter 9, Saul of Tarsus is on his way to Damascus with legal documents enabling him to arrest and imprison anyone who claimed to be a follower of Jesus, called the Messiah. On his way there, he was blinded by a vision so bright that it dislodged him from his horse and he fell to the ground. A voice that that everyone heard, that seemed to come from everywhere and yet nowhere, asked Saul, “Why are you persecuting Me?” Saul asks, “Who are you LORD?” Saul would have only referred to God as Lord, and yet in the moment, he speaks truth. “I am Jesus, the One whom you are persecuting.” Persecuting those who belong to Jesus is persecuting Him. Believing followers of Jesus are referred to as the Body of Christ. Persecute them and you persecute the Lord Jesus, Himself.

Saul is told by Jesus to go to Damascus where he will be told what he is to do. Saul is called by Jesus at this moment to a destiny beyond his imagination. This was not an act of Saul’s will. In fact, Jesus Christ crossed Saul’s will and cancelled his plans because the Lord had a better way for Saul to live. It would not be by performance and the striving of human will to keep the Law. That had already been proved impossible to keep when one’s heart was spiritually dead.

Within just a few days, Saul was baptized into the name of Jesus Christ and baptized in the Holy Spirit. He began to forcefully and convincingly declare that Jesus WAS the Son of God, the Messiah crucified and risen from the dead. Saul had known of God, but now Saul KNEW God. Jesus established an eternal relationship with Saul by grace through faith. Before Ananias came to bring healing to Saul, Saul had been praying and fasting for three days. Saul’s physical and spiritual blindness were cured by the Holy Spirit’s power.

In Saul’s mind, his fierce intellect, his will, his emotions and even in his body, the Holy Spirit did a life-changing, life-altering transformative work. Jesus “connected the dots” for him so that all he knew from the law, the Prophets and the Psalms now became clearer. They had always been pointing to the One, Jesus Christ, Who would come, God incarnate, the Word of God made flesh. Every Old Testament historical account actually “whispered” Jesus’ Name down through the centuries.

Saul’s former devotion to God was right. His understanding of Who God actually is, was wrong. Knowing God, not just knowing about Him, comes from revelation, a revelation from God by the Holy Spirit. It’s like being given eyes to see for the first time. It’s receiving a new heart and a new spirit in which the very Holy Spirit can come and make His permanent home to lead, teach and guide…to make the things of Jesus Christ real and alive in us.

What could bring about such a radical change, such a drastic reorientation of life in such a deeply entrenched Hebrew Pharisee and Scholar? It wasn’t new ideas. It wasn’t by convincing and articulate arguments. It was the reality that Jesus of Nazareth Who was crucified, died and was in the grave for three days had risen from the dead incorruptible. Those who were following Him did so because they had seen Him, flesh and bone, the glorified scars of nail-prints on His hands and feet and of the spear wound in His side. They had been united to Jesus’ death and resurrection by baptism and had been filled with the Holy Spirit’s power in the same way as that original 120 had been in that Day of Pentecost that followed Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection.

Humanity doesn’t have a context for the love of God in Christ Jesus. What kind of love would take on ultimate suffering and death to rescue and redeem those who had made themselves enemies of God, rebels against the Truth? For the Jewish followers of Jesus Christ, their cultural references, their mind-set, their world view, their very “raison d’etre” was changed, not just in a few, but in thousands almost overnight. Cultures are not changed overnight, historically. It takes decades, sometimes centuries of reasoning and cajoling and often great pressure for shifts in culture to transpire.

The radical reorientation and seismic changes in Jew and Gentile alike were only possible because Jesus Christ had indeed risen from the dead. They saw Him, heard Him and touched Him…the very Word of Life. (See the Gospel of Luke chapter 24) It is all about meeting the Risen Christ personally FIRST. It’s about relationship. From that will come articulated truth and doctrine that are grounded in the Person of the Resurrected Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. He is the One who intractably held their attention and inspired and empowered their actions of grace, mercy, kindness, longsuffering, patience, goodness, gentleness and self-control even in the face of martyrdom.

Has anything ever changed the way you are oriented to living life? Has a radical reorientation taken place in your heart and mind that informs and directs how you daily live? Have you met the Risen Lord Jesus? He will set you free to actually begin to live fully human, fully alive.