One of the things that makes a dramatic conversion so dramatic is a person’s past. In Acts 9 we read about the original Damascus Road conversion but it is not quite as dramatic without knowing Saul/Paul’s backstory.
As part of that back story we looked at the stoning of Stephen Acts 7:57-8:3. Stoning is a form of capital punishment where a group of people throw stones at the condemned until the person is dead. When we think of throwing rock we usually think of the pebbles we find along the road of the flat rocks that are perfect for skipping across a pond. That is not what people used in biblical times when someone was stoned. Years ago my father-in-law went to Israel and brought me back a stone from the Jordan River around the area that David gathered his “five smooth stones” (1 Sam. 17:40), one of which he used to kill Goliath. I forgot to bring it with me on Sunday at Renegade Church, but as you can see from the picture it is about the size of a major league baseball and about three times as heavy. You can do some real damage to someone if you clock them in the head with a rock like this.
Watch as we look at Saul/Paul's back story and see if you have not come to a Damascus Road moment or two in your own life.
Road Trip... "Paul's Road Trip" Pt. 1 from Renegade Church on Vimeo.
Correction for this week: I said Benjimin was one of Joseph's sons. In fact, Saul could trace his linage back to the tribe of Benjimin who was one of the 12 sons of Jacob, Joseph was Jacob's favroite son (coat of may colors) and Benjimin's brother.
The life of Saul reminds me that no matter what we have done God can still use us to do great things. We tend to think our past, our failures, the severity of our sin, disqualifies us from anything good. But to God all sin separates us and there is no sin that cannot be forgiven. If we turn to Jesus and ask for forgiveness we can have our own Damascus Road conversion.
Don’t let your past hold you back. Whether it is your relationship with your spouse, your kids, your career, you entire life… it is not how you start, it is how you finish.