Christ impacted the world. From the day HE was born people’s lives changed, starting with His parents. Today I want to know, whose life has changed since you’ve been born again? Hmmm.
Let’s take a look at Saul of Tarsus in the Book of Acts. Prior to his conversion he was determined to destroy Christianity by persecuting Christians because he felt that this movement was dangerous to Judaism. Scripture says that Saul uttered threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers, Acts 9:1. He witnessed and approved the stoning of Stephen, a leader, teacher and debater who was appointed as one of the people to distribute food to the needy in the early church. Let me take a brief pause to point out that although he was a leader, teacher and debater, he humbled himself to… in our present-day terminology, work in a soup kitchen. If we are followers of Christ there should be nothing too small or humble for us to do for Him. Let’s not lose sight of whom we serve or we will in turn lose ourselves.
God is so faithful to stop us dead in our tracks when we are hell bent--just like he did with Saul. It started out like any other day in Saul’s life. He rose from his bed with thoughts of persecuting more Christians. He wanted to increase his terror so he visited the high priest to get a letter giving him permission to arrest and followers of the Way--men and women in Damascus--and bring them back to Jerusalem in chains. This is a good place to consider the scripture….Proverbs 16:9 “In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.”
On the way to Damascus a light shone down around him, he fell to the ground and heard a voice calling his name. It was Christ asking Saul, “Why are you persecuting me?” Saul asked who was speaking and the voice said--it is I, Jesus, the one you are persecuting. Although Saul had not physically laid a hand on Jesus, but because he had persecuted believers, he in turn was persecuting Christ since believers are the body of Christ on earth. Saul stood back up and realized that he was blind. Saul’s men helped lead him to Damascus and he remained there, blind, for three days and did not eat or drink.
While God worked on Saul HE also spoke through a vision to a Christian named Ananias. HE told him to go to Straight Street (how appropriate) to the house of Judas and ask for Saul of Tarsus, and Jesus quickly added….Saul is praying to me right now. HE continued, I have shown him a vision that you will lay hands on him so he can see again. Ananias was not feeling this at all (Saul’s reputation had preceded him). Lord, he exclaimed, I have heard about him and, hello, I am Christian. Hello, that means he will want to kill me. What are you doing here? FYI, Lord he is a killer of Christians and there is no way he could become a Christian, is pretty much what Ananias is saying here.
Here comes the IMPACT….Paul began preaching after three days when his sight and strength were restored. ALL who heard him were amazed and wanted to know, isn’t this the same man that caused such devastation in Jerusalem by persecuting Christians? Oh and didn’t he come here to arrest them and take them back in chains? Acts 9:22-24 says that Saul’s messages became so powerful that the Jews could not deny that Jesus was the Messiah.
My question to you is: Did you have an encounter with Christ? Did HE impact your life to the point of obvious change? Did your direction change? Personally speaking, I used to live a life of compromise in many areas, as a matter of fact…too many to name. Then I met Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior and like Paul minus Ananias, I was set straight and my conversion was obvious. The people I hung around with and worked with knew right away something was very different about me. I love how God can take us and get us straight and still leave our gifting and strengths in place, ’cause HE gave them to us for Himself anyway, we were just a little twisted and used them for the world. Once Christ comes in HE can untwist you and redirect all your gifts and strength in the right direction. SO, don’t laugh but I was aggressive and determined assisting the world and now I am aggressive and determined in serving God. I had a sense of humor that would make people laugh and encourage them on their way in the world but now God uses my sense of humor in my speaking. Oh, and I love to talk so God doesn’t waste anything….LOL, so HE took my gift of gab and called me to be a speaker for Him. I was a people magnet because of my personality in the world and when I got saved Christ made me a people magnet for Him and to be able to proclaim that HE Reigns!
Maybe your thing was that you were a hip hop/rap lyrical master and now you use your wit and lyrics to glorify God. Or maybe you were a person of mercy and the world loved you because they figured they could get over on you, but now your mercy helps feed the poor or you volunteer to help in a soup kitchen. Maybe it’s that you were Mr. or Mrs. Motivational Speaker for how to get rich quick and now God has called you to speak on His behalf and proclaim to the world that the Savior lives! There are little things that become big difference also…let’s say you were partying in the clubs, have you decided to change where you get your party started and get your praise on in worship service instead? If you cussed like a sailor or sailorette are you practicing using your mouth to exhort and praise others? Do you understand that when Christ comes into your life….you don’t become perfect, but there is such a noticeable difference to those around you that they are left speechless….that is if you really had an encounter with the Almighty God. If you had anything less, like an I know better moment or I am a guilty person moment or a moment that you had a glimpse of the error of your ways… that is obvious to everyone because “the moment” wears off like cheap paint.
Some people think it doesn’t take all that…but I ask you to show me that in the Bible. Scripture after scripture tells us to live holy because HE is holy. The books of 1 John, 2 John and 3 John are great places to start to develop a measuring stick for yourself using the Word of God. Please do not compare yourself to others because we will always be able to say we are doing better than someone else. It’s when we look at ourselves in the mirror of the Scriptures that we see very clearly where our shortcomings are. We must get to the place where we are more aware of what we do, what we say and how we are living…..we must live on purpose in order to stay on track.
We must choose afresh daily to keep God in place as Lord of our lives!
Posted By: Michelle Brown
Tuesday, September 9th 2008 at 4:45PM
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