"Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?' 'Who are you, Lord?' Saul asked. 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,' he replied." (Acts 9:1-5)
"My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!" (Galatians 4:19)
"So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer."
(2 Corinthians 5:16)
I can't think of a transformation more radical and astonishing than the change that took place in Saul - a man who thought he knew Jesus and knew the church and hated both with a passion, believing that God was on his side in his attempts to wipe out this dangerous sect from the face of the earth.
What a difference a direct and personal encounter can make! When all of a sudden your entire belief system is questioned and turned upside down! When the ones you hated become the ones you care about and love as a mother loves her own child!
It makes me question anew how much of my life is based on a belief system that knows things about Jesus rather than really knowing Him in this much more immediate and personal way.
If Jesus breaks through our common perceptions of God and His way of dealing with us, it will impact our view of the church and of people in general as well. We begin to care about the things He loves because we love Him. And He loves people relentlessly completely apart from worthiness and meeting His own standards. It is grace that initiates the process of change, not change that "earns" God's favor and blessings.
The church today is a mess in many regards. What else can you really expect from a body that is made up of egotists, broken existences and so many people who still feel the need for self-actualization and maintaining an image of goodness and integrity when in reality it's more of a con-job than anything else?
And yet God cares about each of us - whether we're in His own judgment already "in the fold" or still outside of it (John 10:16). He's still passionate about transforming each of our lives in the same way He reshaped Paul's thinking and living. In the end, it doesn't really matter where we see people in their relationship to God. His attitude toward His children at home and those wandering in the wilderness is no different (Luke 15:20+31). And our need for grace and for a renewed mind never changes.
One of the implications is: we can never ever be persecutors - even if we happen to be right. We also can never write off the church. God is passionate about both. What will initiate much needed change in our own ranks? A journey from knowing to knowing. Getting to know God AND people through real face-to-face encounters rather than forming an opinion by hearing about someone and then coming to our own conclusions which are often a total distortion and misunderstanding.
Maybe the title of an old hymn expresses our greatest need the best:
"Just a closer walk with Thee!"
