Learning to Lovewell: W4 - FRI
Followers of the Way
Acts 9;1-6, 19-20 1 Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers. So he went to the high priest. 2 He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains.
3 As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him.4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”
5 “Who are you, lord?” Saul asked.
And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! 6 Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
19…Saul stayed with the believers in Damascus for a few days. 20 And immediately he began preaching about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is indeed the Son of God!”
John 13:34-35
34 “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
I love the story of Paul’s conversion. It is so dramatic, such an about face, that it keeps your head spinning. Here was a guy hell bent on erasing the influence of a controversial former Jew named Jesus of Nazareth (I say former because he was supposed to be dead), who has an encounter and finds himself just days later telling everyone that this same Jesus is actually the Messiah. Wow!
Though there are all sorts of details we could talk about in this story, it’s the actual encounter with the risen Lord that gets me. Paul saw a light, the light turned out to be Jesus, and after that encounter he was blinded for three days. Likely, during those three days, the Holy Spirit is helping Paul connect all the dots that he hadn’t connected before. After the three days, his literal eyes, as well as the eyes of his heart, are opened and for the rest of his life, he was left with an “after-image” of Jesus.
An “after-image” is the phenomenon that happens when you look at a bright light for a second, then look away but you can still see an image of that light. That’s why we’re told to not look directly at the sun for long, because that after-image may never go away and we’d be literally blind.
But if you look at Paul’s life, he never seems to lose that image of Christ. He doesn’t lose it when he is beaten repeatedly for teaching Jesus, or shipwrecked, or kicked out of the synagogue.
My hope for all of us at Crosswalk is that each morning, we would spend time looking at the Son; studying his words, his life, his teachings. Then, with his image burned into our eyes, we’d go out into the world and represent him as his hands and feet. The proof that we are doing this? People will come to know us as his followers by our love, yes our love, they will know that we are Christians by our love.
Acts 9;1-6, 19-20 1 Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers. So he went to the high priest. 2 He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains.
3 As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him.4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”
5 “Who are you, lord?” Saul asked.
And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! 6 Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
19…Saul stayed with the believers in Damascus for a few days. 20 And immediately he began preaching about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is indeed the Son of God!”
John 13:34-35
34 “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
I love the story of Paul’s conversion. It is so dramatic, such an about face, that it keeps your head spinning. Here was a guy hell bent on erasing the influence of a controversial former Jew named Jesus of Nazareth (I say former because he was supposed to be dead), who has an encounter and finds himself just days later telling everyone that this same Jesus is actually the Messiah. Wow!
Though there are all sorts of details we could talk about in this story, it’s the actual encounter with the risen Lord that gets me. Paul saw a light, the light turned out to be Jesus, and after that encounter he was blinded for three days. Likely, during those three days, the Holy Spirit is helping Paul connect all the dots that he hadn’t connected before. After the three days, his literal eyes, as well as the eyes of his heart, are opened and for the rest of his life, he was left with an “after-image” of Jesus.
An “after-image” is the phenomenon that happens when you look at a bright light for a second, then look away but you can still see an image of that light. That’s why we’re told to not look directly at the sun for long, because that after-image may never go away and we’d be literally blind.
But if you look at Paul’s life, he never seems to lose that image of Christ. He doesn’t lose it when he is beaten repeatedly for teaching Jesus, or shipwrecked, or kicked out of the synagogue.
My hope for all of us at Crosswalk is that each morning, we would spend time looking at the Son; studying his words, his life, his teachings. Then, with his image burned into our eyes, we’d go out into the world and represent him as his hands and feet. The proof that we are doing this? People will come to know us as his followers by our love, yes our love, they will know that we are Christians by our love.
- Think back to your own conversion story, when you first came to believe about Jesus. It may not be dramatic like Paul’s, mine wasn’t, but when was it and what was it that first took your breath away about Jesus?
- Do you think the movement of Jesus followers in North America is largely known for how we love? Why or why not? If not, how do you and I seek to change that perception?
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