Tag Archives: Conversion

Radical Conversion

April 1, 2024 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.
Acts 9:22 (NIV)

While I was in high school there was a bit of a spiritual revival that broke out at our school. Among those who placed their faith in Jesus were some individuals with reputations for being pretty wild. I can remember hearing the news and immediately feeling skepticism. It was such a radical conversion in some cases, that it was hard to actually believe it.

Today’s chapter contains one of the most dramatic life changes in history. Saul of Tarsus was a zealous, educated, and well-connected Pharisee who was fully committed to imprisoning Jesus’ disciples, snuffing the Jesus Movement out of existence, and even killing people if necessary to make it happen. Jesus appears to Saul and calls on him to switch teams. In an instant, the enemy becomes an ally. The hunter becomes the hunted. Saul, who will become Paul, becomes arguably the greatest example of what can happen if you follow Jesus’ teaching, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

Paul would later write a letter to believers in Corinth and describe all followers of Jesus as the “body of Christ.” It’s a powerful word picture because he makes the distinction of the body needing all of its parts to function in a healthy way. With Paul’s conversion, the body of Christ added a key part.

Unlike the Twelve, Paul was educated by the best. Paul was a man uniquely gifted for establishing the theological foundations of the Jesus Movement and could go toe-to-toe with any Jewish critic.

Paul was part of the Jewish establishment, yet he was also from Greece and knew the Hellenistic world and customs. Just a few chapters ago, Luke records that there was tension between the Greeks and Hebrews among Jesus’ followers. Paul was uniquely suited to help bridge this rift, as well as being uniquely suited to take Jesus’ message to the Greek world while still having respect for non-Greek Jews within the movement. Paul was also a Roman citizen, which would become instrumental in his witness and his missionary journeys.

In the quiet this morning, I spent some time meditating on the very nature of the body of Christ in the “holy catholic” sense of it being made up of all believers of all types around the globe. God uses so many different people with different gifts in different ways to accomplish His purposes on a grand scale that is hard for me to even fathom. At the same time, every member of that Body is a gifted part of it and has a part to play in it. My job is to consciously use my gifts as God leads me in accomplishing His purposes within my circles of influence.

Which has me thinking about my brothers and sisters from that revival back in high school. I didn’t really know those I referenced personally. It was a large high school, they were older, and I operated in different social circles. Still, I wonder how their stories have played out. Like Jesus’ parable of the sower and the seed falling on different types of soil, I imagine there is a spectrum of stories and outcomes. I spent some time this morning picturing faces, recalling names, and praying for them wherever they are and whatever God’s purposes in their life journeys. I may be in a different part of the body, but I can certainly pray for each and every other part.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Inflection Points

June 23, 2016 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the Law, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law. Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” The Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be still, for this is a holy day. Do not grieve.” Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them. Nehemiah 8:9-12

Along life’s journey I’ve grown increasingly fascinated with words. Words, in and of themselves, are creative expression. At the root level they are metaphors. A series of squiggles on a page that correspond to a series of vowels and consonants which mean something to any who can read or understand the language. Words come in and out of fashion. Words you never heard before suddenly become “buzzwords.”

Over the past couple of years, I’ve heard the words “inflection point” used a lot in business. It’s become a bit of a buzzword in some circles. It’s a great little term from the world of calculus. It describes the point at which a curve moves from being concave (downward) to convex (upward), or vice versa. Businesses have adopted the term to describe the point at which a trend (in sales, for example) stops rising and starts declining, or vice versa. The inflection point is the point of change. It’s a change of direction.

I think the term “inflection point” has strong spiritual connotations, as well. God’s Message repeatedly calls people to make a sudden change of direction. Turn from darkness towards the Light. Turn from evil ways and embrace that which is good. Turn away from hatred and pursue Love. Turn from sin and pursue God. Spiritual journeys are all about inflection points.

In today’s chapter, the walls of Jerusalem have been rebuilt. The gates are back in place. As a way of celebrating, Ezra brings out the scrolls with the law of Moses. It’s likely that the words of the law of Moses had not been widely read or heard publicly since Jerusalem and Solomon’s temple had been destroyed some 150 years earlier. Many who lived in Jerusalem may never have heard it. Perhaps no one in their families had heard it since the days of their great-great grandparents.

The reading of God’s story and the law of Moses becomes a spiritual inflection point. The people realize how far they have spiritually wandered away from God’s path. They weep. They grieve. Their hearts turn towards God.

I love the response of the Levites to the people. “Don’t grieve. Feast. This is a moment of joy!” I can’t help but think of the prodigal son returning to his father in humility and shame, and the father’s contrasting expression of joy. That’s the way spiritual inflection points work. They are a moment when grief and turn to joy.

This morning I’m thinking about all of the different metaphorical ways the term “inflection point” applies to life. I’m thinking about the inflection points I’ve experienced, both positively and negatively. Fiscal inflection points, relational inflection points, vocational inflection points, and spiritual inflection points. I’m meditating on the inflection points that still need to occur in my spiritual journey. Followers of Jesus often talk about their conversion as the inflection point of their life. While I certainly look back on that moment as monumental, I’ve found that following Jesus is a never ending series of inflection points. I don’t mature or progress unless I experience them.

Inflection point. Good words.

Chapter-a-Day

Things Change

May 20, 2015 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” All who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem among those who invoked this name? And has he not come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?” Acts 9:19b-21 (NRSV)

There has been a small yet intense debate among local historians and traditionalists in our little town over recent months. The debate concerns the wife of our town’s founder or, more specifically, the spelling of her name. The town has always held that her name was spelled “Mareah,” but archival evidence suggest that her name was always spelled “Maria” on legal documents and the spelling change seems to have occurred in her adult years. It is now believed that the change occurred around the time of a major shift in her life: the death of her husband and her subsequent marriage to a younger man who was the age of her son. And so, the debate quietly continues regarding how we should spell her name today.

The rather meaningless debate has been a quiet reminder to me that things change. We all go through dramatic changes in life. Life’s journey can take abrupt and unexpected turns, especially when you’re on a faith journey.

Today’s chapter chronicles one of the most dramatic and unexpected turns in history. Saul of Tarsus was a radical and conservative Jewish leader intent on persecuting, imprisoning, and/or killing any man or woman who claimed to be a follower of Jesus. Then, on his way to round up some Jesus followers in the town of Damascus, Jesus reveals Himself to the zealous persecutor. In one dramatic moment, Saul’s life takes an abrupt u-turn.

Things change. Saul would become Paul. His life would never be the same. The persecutor of Jesus followers would unexpectedly become their greatest champion. For the rest of his life he would push himself to incredible physical and spiritual limits, ceaselessly suffer the persecution he’d once afflicted on others, and constantly proclaim that Jesus was exactly who He claimed to be. Paul would change the course of human history.

Things change. People change. It was at the core of everything that Jesus taught. Fishermen became fishers of men. Enemies become friends. Hatred is transformed into love. Anger and bitterness yield to grace and kindness. Sin is washed away by forgiveness. Darkness is pierced by Light. Death is swallowed up by Life. Saul the executioner becomes Paul the evangelist.

You and I, we can change, too.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Acts 9

May 7, 2012 Tom Vander Well 2 Comments

Paul @ Bundoran (Photo credit: bettlebrox)

Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes he was blind. So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus. He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink. Acts 9:8-9 (NLT)

I had a moment of synchronicity yesterday as I sat in the back of the church during worship. The music was playing just before the morning message and I thought to myself that I’d read the chapter for today just to let it speak to me and percolate before I had to write this post. I opened to Acts 9. At that moment, the preacher stood and told everyone to open their Bibles to Acts 9. I looked up at the stage, then back down to the page. I was already there. It was a bit surreal.

The preacher called the disorienting event in Saul’s life a “Depends Moment.” Life goes along as expected. We are oriented and calibrated. Life is chugging along nicely and we are in a groove of living, thinking, and believing. Then comes a disorienting event that makes us pee our pants (hand me the Depends). Like Paul on the road to Damascus we are left blind. Everything we’ve thought, known, and believed becomes dark.

After the disorienting event – over the days, weeks and years to come, Paul’s life was reoriented. From detractor to believer, instead of being a persecutor of Jesus’ followers, he became arguably their greatest convert and leader.

Orientation, disorientation, reorientation.

My “Depends Moment” came seven years ago next Sunday when the divorce decree was filed. Seemingly all that I’d become oriented to think, live and believe over 40 years came crashing down around me. Disorientation followed and reorientation began.

The preacher reminded us yesterday to thank God for “Depends Moments.” They are the vehicle God uses to break us down so that He can take us through the process of reorientation for the next stage of our journey. Today, I’m thinking back to 40 years of orientation, to a period of blinding disorientation, and to the past seven years of reorientation.

I don’t know exactly where it leads anymore than Paul knew what was happening as he sat blindly on Straight Street in Damascus. But, I’m excited to find out for what God has been reorienting me.