Watch the Road!

Acts 9:19b-31

Talk about a change of perspective. Paul, the scourge of the early Church, had gone to Damascus for the purpose of arresting believers and dragging them back to Jerusalem in chains. But on the way there he experienced a conversion that led him to become an outspoken adherent to the new faith and a follower of Jesus Christ. “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 9:21). It was as if Paul had come to a fork in the road of his life and, given the chance to amend who he was, had struck out in a completely different direction. Paul repented of who he had been, cast off his old life, and became a new person dedicated to serving the Lord.

We are all on a journey of faith, and from time to time we may find ourselves at a junction, a place of decision, where we must choose which path to take. Seldom will this moment be as dramatic for us as it was for Paul, but all such moments are important nonetheless. How do we make the correct choices? The answer is to look to Jesus Christ for direction and seek his guidance, to welcome the input that the faith offers us and do the best we can to move ahead. Bad decisions are a part of life. Sin causes us to make wrong turns, to lose our way, to get lost. But the one who offers us true guidance remains steadfast. By turning to him we will always find the way to live in faith.

Paul became a new person on the road to Damascus; people hardly recognized him after his experience. We may not undergo such a radical change, but by faith in Jesus Christ we get where we need to be.

Prayer: Lord, guide us all the days of our lives that we may follow you and not waver in our faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.