“Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ And he said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do…’ Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank…
“But Ananias answered, ‘Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem…’ But the Lord said to him, ‘Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine… So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized…
“And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ‘He is the Son of God.’” Acts 9:1-6,8-9,13,15a,17-18,20
A renowned, stalwart, feisty religious zealot, mission-minded but misguided Saul was bent on one dictum: ravage the Christians. But God turned his life inside out and upside down. When Saul recognized he was himself the real loser, every orientation changed. The dark that once drove him was arrested with light, the aggressive lord-over persecutor was lurched into submission to the Lord of all. Godly Ananias was so convinced of this supernatural transformation he addressed him as brother before witnessing any change. (Isaiah 46:11; Acts 8:1,3; Philippians 3:4-6)
We humans wrestle with change. Either we do not like it at all, or we fail to make different what we want to turn around, put away, or improve. But Jesus came to transform what man had ruined in Eden, including our resistance to change. He came to seek and save the lost, to remove and replace awry affections, attitudes, and life purpose. A soul captured by Him is changed indeed. (Luke 19:10; 2 Corinthians 5:17)
To what wrong ways do we keep returning? Where has emotion or habit swept us into a detrimental or meaningless existence that the Lord is prompting us to arrest? What indulgences and ingrained practices have blinded us to His pure light? (Romans 7:18-19)
Have we ever fallen before the absolute lordship of Christ and surrendered self-will? Unto what new loftier passions and more eternally meaningful motivations and relationships has God redirected our lives? What specific preoccupations, drives, attitudes, even hesitancies is the Lord asking us to yield forever in order to live fully and freely in His light?
Lord, yank me away from any wayward ways, reorient my desire, and turn me to paths of righteousness that magnify Your glory. (Psalm 23:3)
As the rain and snow 