[Saul] was unable to see for three days and did not eat or drink. (Acts 9:9)
Maybe it’s because I’m writing this the day after Easter, but those words hit me today. Saul was “dead” for three days.
But on the third day, he rose up a new man.
He saw Jesus differently.
No longer did he see Jesus as a false Messiah. Now he realized that Jesus truly was Lord and Messiah.
And despite the fact that Saul had persecuted Jesus by attacking his people, he came to realize that this Lord, this Messiah, actually loved him and had paid the price for his sin by dying on a cross (Galatians 2:20).
He saw himself differently.
Gone was the pride in his own righteousness. Gone was his pride in his status as both Jew and Pharisee (Philippians 3:4-6).
Now he was humbled by the fact that he was a sinner in need of grace. And to his amazement, God had given it to him.
He saw others differently.
People he had once despised, these “followers of the Way,” these “disciples of Jesus,” were now his brothers and sisters.
And the Gentiles he had despised so long were now people God loved and whom he had called Saul to touch.
As Christians, we too have been given new life.
Do we see Jesus differently? Not as a dead man from history. But a living Lord and Savior who loves us and gave his life for us.
Do we see ourselves differently? All our sense of self-worth, not coming from our status or accomplishments, but from the fact that we are forgiven sinners.
Are we blown away by the fact that God looks at us and says, “You are my beloved child.”
Do we see others differently? As people God values and loves. As people God sends us to so that they might find new life too.
Or do we still live as if we were dead?
May we be able to say with Saul who became Paul,
For the love of Christ compels us, since we have reached this conclusion, that one died for all, and therefore all died.
And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised.
From now on, then, we do not know anyone from a worldly perspective. Even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, yet now we no longer know him in this way.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:14-17)
Moment to Moment (Bible blog) 