The story of Saul’s dramatic encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus is one of the most powerful conversion accounts in Scripture. This passage from Acts 9 reveals not just one man’s transformation, but a pattern that shows us how God works in every person’s life who truly encounters Him.
What Does True Conversion Look Like?
Many of us have questions about conversion. Does it have to happen immediately? Can it be gradual? Can you have questions and wrestle through tensions during the process? The story of Saul shows us that conversion isn’t a formula – it’s a pattern that God uses to transform lives.
The Journey That Changed Everything
Saul wasn’t accidentally traveling to Damascus. He embarked on a six-day journey with one clear purpose: to arrest followers of “the Way.” As a Pharisee, he believed in the hope of resurrection and that God would make all things new. He thought he was defending God’s truth, but he was actually persecuting the very Messiah he hoped for.
This raises an important question: Sometimes we’re so lost in our religion, traditions, or pride that we don’t even realize we’re lost. We can be zealous for God while completely missing who God actually is.
The Four Elements of Conversion
1. Encounter
When Saul encountered Jesus on the Damascus road, everything he had built his life on was both fulfilled and shattered simultaneously. He had hoped for the Messiah, but when Jesus revealed Himself, Saul’s entire worldview crumbled.
The encounter was real and disruptive. Saul couldn’t explain it away or put God back in the box he had created. When we truly encounter Jesus, He’s bigger than our expectations, bigger than our training, and bigger than everything we’ve been taught.
Have you had an encounter that knocked you off your high horse? True encounters with God dismantle the systems we’ve built to contain Him.
2. Dependence
God gave Saul blindness – perhaps the most challenging condition for someone whose identity was built on reading and studying the law. When you’re blind, you can’t read. You become completely dependent on others.
This forced dependence gave Saul space to think and reflect on what had actually happened. Sometimes God will give us a Sabbath rhythm, and we can either follow it willingly or He’ll force it on us through circumstances that make us stop and depend on Him.
In the silence and blindness, God speaks to us. As C.S. Lewis said, “God whispers in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains. Pain is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
3. Embrace
Enter Ananias – one of the most underrated heroes of the New Testament. Despite knowing Saul’s reputation for persecuting Christians, Ananias obeyed God’s call to find him. When he arrived, he called Saul “Brother Saul,” immediately welcoming him into the family of God.
This is where we learn about our true value. Like a twenty-dollar bill that’s been crumpled, stepped on, and dragged through mud, your worth doesn’t change based on your circumstances. You have value, dignity, and worth because you’re made in the image of God.
Jesus knows your sin and died for you anyway. Your value cannot be taken away because of where you were born or what you’ve been through.
4. Empowerment
The Holy Spirit empowered Saul to acknowledge Jesus as Lord and Savior, and then to be a witness throughout Damascus and Jerusalem. True conversion includes both believing with your heart and confessing with your mouth.
You can’t have a completely private faith. The evidence of the Holy Spirit working in your life is that you’ll proclaim the gospel to others who don’t know Jesus. This isn’t about working for your salvation – your value is already established. But witnessing is the evidence of genuine conversion.
Are You Really Lost or Just Religious?
Sometimes we think we’re following God when we’re actually following our own version of Him. We make God in our image instead of recognizing that we’re made in His image. When God is made in our image, He looks and acts just like we want Him to – always loving but never judging, always present but never personal, always forgiving but never holy.
But the true God can accomplish justice, mercy, and grace all at once. Through Jesus’s death on the cross, He pays the price for our sins and the sins done to us, extends mercy when we don’t get punished for every sin, and gives us the gift of salvation we don’t deserve.
Who Are the Sauls, Ananias, and Barnabas of Today?
In every community, there are people playing these crucial roles:
The Sauls: Those who are zealous but lost, needing an encounter with the true JesusThe Ananias: Those willing to obey God and reach out to unlikely peopleThe Barnabas: Those who advocate for and mentor new believers
There are over 225,000 people in Lake County who have given up on finding hope and purpose within churches. If you’re a follower of Jesus, that should stir something in you.
Life Application
This week, examine your own spiritual journey through the lens of this conversion pattern. Have you truly encountered Jesus, or have you simply added Him to your life as an accessory? Are you depending on Him or still trying to maintain control? Have you embraced your identity as a beloved child of God, and are you empowered to share that good news with others?
Have you gone through a genuine conversion experience, or are you still trying to earn God’s love through performance?Who in your life might be a “Saul” – someone who seems opposed to faith but might actually be searching for truth?How is God calling you to be an “Ananias” – reaching out to someone others might consider unreachable?Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to empower you as a witness, or are you keeping your faith private?
Remember, your value and worth come from being made in God’s image, not from your circumstances or performance. Jesus loves you enough to meet you where you are, but He also loves you too much to leave you there unchanged.
Marc Ulrich marc@rethinkchurch.cc
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Marc Ulrich 