Darkness to Light

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

DARKNESS TO LIGHT

Acts 26:9-18

9 "I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. 11 Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. In my obsession against them, I even went to foreign cities to persecute them. 12 "On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 13 About noon, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. 14 We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.'  15 "Then I asked, 'Who are you, Lord?' "'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,' the Lord replied. 16'Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you. 17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.' 

NIV

As Paul stands before Governor Festus with King Agrippa and officials from both Agrippa and Festus, he continues his testimony about his encounter with the resurrected and ascended Jesus. He quotes the words of Jesus that led to his conversion from being a persecutor of the people of the Way to becoming a passionate follower of Jesus. This is where the narrative intertwines with our lives. It does not matter where we began our experience with Jesus, but we know it had to have been due to divine intervention. We are all born sinners, lost in this world, and at some point in our lives, we meet Jesus in a personal encounter. For some of us, Jesus intervened in our lives when we were adults living a self-satisfying, sinful life. For some of us who were born into a Christian, God-fearing family, we still needed a personal encounter with Jesus. The fact still remains that in order for us to see the kingdom of God, we must be born again. This is the point Paul made in his testimony regarding his divine experience with the resurrected and ascended Jesus. We know from personal experience that Jesus is alive, that God resurrected him, and, from the testimony of his disciples, that Jesus ascended back into heaven. However, that does not mean he always stays there, for Paul has testified that he met with Jesus, who surrounded him with the great light of Jesus, the bright Morning Star. Jesus told Paul that he was sending him to the Gentiles to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. This must be the testimony of every believer, for we all were born into darkness and must have our eyes opened to the light of Jesus. That is our story, from darkness to light.