A Sinner has Come Home

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

A SINNER HAS COME HOME

Acts 9:1-9

9:1 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"  5 "Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked. "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he replied. 6 "Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."  7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

NIV

Here is the beginning of the story telling us of the conversion of Saul, a man bend on destroying the faith of the new believers. Some might use this conversion to show the election of God and perhaps God did elect Saul, yet God desires that all men know him, and his provision for their salvation. This is of course the story of one man who was full of zeal against the church and God was able to use that zeal for the church. If we could add to the book there would be other stories of men and woman who God called and used for the benefit of the kingdom, here is just one of those. The point here, the life lesson for us here is that God does call us to be a benefit to his kingdom. God intervenes into the life of sinners showing them who he is and calling them to his side. Saul was indeed a sinner, although a Jew with great zeal for the Jewish faith, a faith in God, but at the same time a faith which refused the provision of God for the law of God. It is interesting that God chose to reveal himself only to Saul and not to the men who were traveling with him. This is something we may never know the reason for, yet it is the story of this one man’s conversion, a man who would do great things for the kingdom. It is also interesting that God took a few days to complete his plan for the conversion of Saul. Yet the point still remains that God does intervene in the life of sinners, as he did in our lives. One by one God seeks out sinners and reveals himself to them in some manner. This demonstrates the personal relationship he desires to have with each individual. Although we are members of the body of Christ, and are but one of many, God desires us to know him in a vibrant and personal way. We are not simply a mass of people, we are one, and his call on each one of us is personal and unique as it was with Saul. The difference with many of us then with Saul was that once he accepted that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior, he went about telling everyone. Of course many did not believe him, in fact, they could not get over his old self and see his new self, but Saul, who we know as Paul, a servant of the Lord, knew his life had changed and it was changed by God. A sinner has come home. This is our story, a sinner has come home.