Senseless
Sometimes we need to be knocked senseless in order to see the light.
Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank. - Acts 9:1-9
Saul thought he was doing the right thing.
Like so many of us today, Saul believed with all his heart and soul that he was in the right. His opposition to the blasphemy that he heard coming from these followers of Jesus was unquestionably evil.
It never would have occurred to him that he could be mistaken, that his treatment of the people he thought were evil was wrong.
He had been listening to the wrong messages, messages of truth that the leaders of the faith had handed down for generations.
How could he be wrong? How could they all be wrong?
What Saul's experience on the road to Damascus should make us realize is that we may be so committed to our convictions that we fail to see the truth.
Saul needed to be blinded for three days to see the light.
If he hadn't encountered Jesus, he would have gone on persecuting believers convinced he was defending the truth.
So, what does this mean for us?
Maybe all we need to do is imagine ourselves in Saul's position. What are we so sure of today that if proven false, would knock us senseless?
We may be surprised what we discover.
More to come...