Acts 9

 

Reading Luke and Acts in 2020


Week 33  |  Acts 9
 

Acts 9 Reflections and Questions


By Rev. Dr. Michael McQueen

Scripture to Meditate On:
Acts 9:8 “Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could not see anything.”

Acts chapter 9 begins like any good book or novel would read in the middle of the most interesting part of the book with the word “Meanwhile” which immediately places the reader of the book or novel in the middle of a plot or wonderful story. Luke, the author of the book of Acts, is a masterful storyteller as he picks up the story of a young man by the name of Saul the Pharisee who, in chapters seven and eight, was at the scene of the crime of the murder and stoning of Stephen. Stephen was a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. His only crime was that he preached to the Sanhedrin that from the time of Abraham God was preparing God’s people for Jesus the Christ, the Righteous One, but yet they betrayed him and murdered him. After he died, witnesses had laid their clothes at Saul’s feet as Saul was giving his approval as they killed Stephen.

Acts chapter 9 is the story of Saul’s conversion from the Pharisee named Saul to the Apostle that we have come to know as Paul. The word “conversion” is defined as a process of changing or causing something to change from one form to another. 

I find this passage fascinating because after reading Saul’s “conversion experience” it should immediately make you and I think about our own “conversion experience!” You see Saul’s conversion experience is probably just like ours. That conversion experience can also be defined as the moment when we first met and surrendered our lives to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior! We realize like Saul, who after his conversion experience became Paul, that we had been blinded by Satan into believing that our way and our plans and our goals and what we were doing before we met Jesus really mattered more than anything else. But in actuality, we were blind because we could not see that God had been working all around us and preparing for this moment, this “conversion experience” all of our lives!

And so today and all this week, I want you to reflect upon your “conversion experience” by reflecting upon the following questions for the next seven days:
  1. Wednesday - What were you doing and what was your life like before you met Jesus Christ? (Saul was on his way to find more people of the “Way” to bring them back as prisoners to be persecuted).
  2. Thursday - Do you remember the day, the time and the place that you met and surrendered your life to Jesus Christ? (Write down your Damascus Road experience).
  3. Friday - Do you remember the circumstances leading up to that moment?
  4. Saturday - Who did God use to introduce you to Jesus Christ?
  5. Sunday - How have you changed or what has changed in you after you met Jesus Christ? (Remember the definition of conversion is that it is a process of changing?
  6. Monday - Do you realize that we live in a continuous process of conversion called “sanctification” even after our initial conversion experience? List as least three things that others have said they can see a change in you?
  7. Tuesday - List the ways the things that you “did not see” even though your eyes were open before you met Jesus Christ?  (Examples, vital relationships, sunsets, blessings, etc).

 
Rev. Dr. Michael McQueen is District Superintendent of the new District 2/Central North District. 

 
Reading Luke and Acts