All of Christianity in the blink of an eye

This morning I preached on the conversion of Saul in Acts 9. It is one of the great human cataclysms of all time -- a man who Luke basically portrays as Church Enemy #1 realizing in a flash (literally) that this "Lord" who manifested himself in overwhelming glory was none other than Jesus. There has never been a bigger "Oh crud" moment in the history of humankind. There has never been a more instantaneous turnaround. In the blink of an eye (literally), the most vehement foe of the cause of Christ becomes the most tireless worker for the cause of Christ.


I like the way William Barclay sums up Saul's fateful encounter with Jesus. It is worth quoting a paragraph from Barclay's commentary on Acts:
There is all of Christianity in what the Risen Christ said to Paul, ‘Go into the city, and you will be told what to do.’ Up to this moment Paul had been doing what he liked, what he thought best, what his will dictated. From this time forward he would be told what to do. The Christian is a man who has ceased to do what he wants to do and who has begun to do what Christ wants him to do.

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