Today I was reading Acts 9, along with the Summit Church's bible reading plan (summitRDU.com/Bible), about the conversion of the greatest opponent to Christ and the Christian faith that has ever lived, Saul of Tarsus. Just one chapter before his conversion, Saul was pulling people out of their homes and putting them in prison. He "approved" the ESV says of Stephen's execution. He was binding those who had been set free in Christ. And then, in the middle of the road, on his way to another raid of another town, it happened.
Saul had his first encounter with the God he had been persecuting. A glory so great that he left that encounter blind. And I'm tempted to add a verse in my Bible, although I won't because then it would cease to be infallible I'm sure, that says something like "And although Saul became blind, he could see more clearly than he ever had before." At this point Saul was still Saul. He wasn't converted yet. But he knew this whole thing about Jesus was real. He knew he had been wrong about the whole thing. So even though he was blind, he had a better sense of reality than he had ever had before.
That points us to the fact that our physical eyes, the two little orbs that rest in the middle of our faces (which can be blue, green, brown, zebra striped, or really anything else you want them to now that you can get contacts with all kinds of crazy designs), are not the most important instruments of sight for us. More than we need to have 20/20 vision, we need the eyes of our hearts to be open. It is with the eyes of our hearts that we can see beyond this world when everything around us attempts to make us believe something that isn't true, or gives us a false perspective. It is with the eyes of our hearts that we can see Christ working in this world even though it is utterly broken and full of wickedness and evil. It is with the eyes of our hearts that we can see beyond our present circumstances, the glory that will be revealed to us.
Saul had his first encounter with the God he had been persecuting. A glory so great that he left that encounter blind. And I'm tempted to add a verse in my Bible, although I won't because then it would cease to be infallible I'm sure, that says something like "And although Saul became blind, he could see more clearly than he ever had before." At this point Saul was still Saul. He wasn't converted yet. But he knew this whole thing about Jesus was real. He knew he had been wrong about the whole thing. So even though he was blind, he had a better sense of reality than he had ever had before.
That points us to the fact that our physical eyes, the two little orbs that rest in the middle of our faces (which can be blue, green, brown, zebra striped, or really anything else you want them to now that you can get contacts with all kinds of crazy designs), are not the most important instruments of sight for us. More than we need to have 20/20 vision, we need the eyes of our hearts to be open. It is with the eyes of our hearts that we can see beyond this world when everything around us attempts to make us believe something that isn't true, or gives us a false perspective. It is with the eyes of our hearts that we can see Christ working in this world even though it is utterly broken and full of wickedness and evil. It is with the eyes of our hearts that we can see beyond our present circumstances, the glory that will be revealed to us.
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away,
our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction
is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory
beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen
but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient,
but the things that are unseen are eternal.
-2 Corinthians 4:16-18
It makes sense that to see something that is unseen, you have to use eyes that are unseen. And to possess something that is unseen, it needs to be given to you by someone that is unseen. Well that just leaves one person, God. Would you just stop right now and ask God to give you eyes that see beyond the material reality we live in? Ask him to give you "heart eyes."
Now that we've covered that, I want to finish with the main idea that initiated this blog post, although the idea discussed above was very in"sight"ful to me. In the conversion of Saul we see God taking the greatest offender to Christ and the kingdom he instituted, and turning him into the greatest defender for the Christian faith ever. God took the greatest threat, and by the Holy Spirit, not by anything done on the part of Saul, and made him the greatest spokesman for his kingdom. This is what God does. He takes things that are broken, things that are evil, things that are dead, and he makes them whole, good, and alive. This is exactly what he did in the cross of Christ. He took man's greatest evil, man's greatest sin, and made it his greatest grace towards men. He made our crucifixion of the King of Glory, the path to our redemption. He made the blood of the slaughtered King, the agent of our deepest cleansing. He made the most horrible scene of death, our only way to receive true life.
Only God can do this. And he does it every day when he saves sinners. He takes idolaters, and makes them worshippers of the true God. He takes orphans, and make them sons and daughters. He takes prostitutes, and makes them his bride. And don't get it twisted. You can't make yourself more eligible for his resurrecting power, his restoring grace. What makes you eligible to receive it, is the very fact that you CAN'T make yourself eligible to receive it. It is grace through faith. God extends grace and you RECEIVE it.
This is why the Christ of the Bible is so different than any other God. This is why Christianity is so different from any other faith. Nowhere else is there resurrection, restoration, and new life. In Christ we are "new creations" (2 Cor. 5:17). Christians aren't fixed versions of their old selves. Christians are a completely new race! We haven't been cleaned up, we've been made new.
Only Christ can do this.