Metanoia
by Pauline Simonsen
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. All those who heard him were astonished (Acts 9:20,21).
Read Acts 9:19b–31
What to do with the new Saul? He confounds everyone.
Instead of enforcing strict Judaism in the synagogues of Damascus and breathing murder against Jesus’ followers, Saul sits in the synagogues preaching that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God!
Instead of hounding down Jesus-followers, he baffles the Jews with proofs from the Old Testament Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah!
How quickly things change when the Lord Jesus speaks his powerful word. Saul has made a radical u-turn, a metanoia or mind-transformation. He is no longer the darling of the Jewish leaders. Rather he is a walking challenge to every group he encounters.
The Jews of Damascus conspire to kill him, and he must escape in a basket over the city walls.
The Christ-followers in Jerusalem are too frightened to meet him, expecting the old Jesus-hating Saul. It’s only with Barnabas’ endorsement that they accept him.
As he preaches in Jerusalem, the Grecian Jews try to kill him. The believers get him out of the city and send him back to his birthplace in Asia Minor.
Saul has become like his Lord Jesus, rejected by his own people, too challenging for everyone, nowhere to call his home. This will be his path for the rest of his life, walking a pilgrim road of suffering with Jesus.
But for the young church, Saul’s conversion ushers in a new season of peace and growth (Acts 9:31).
And we Gentile Christians know the fruit of his life, for we have the gospel largely because of Saul’s ministry.
And for Saul himself, this pilgrim path was his greatest joy:
I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ … I want to know Christ – yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings (Philippians 3:8–10).
As Jesus keeps calling you and me daily to follow him, he doesn’t promise us a path of roses, but a narrow path, often marked by suffering.
But as we walk it with him, he works his fruit through our lives and gives us such peace and joy in his company!
Lord Jesus, keep us walking our pilgrim lives with you, knowing joy and fulfilment in your presence, even when the road is hard. When we feel rejected by others, remind us that we are hidden in you and that you are working your fruitful purposes through us. Amen.
Pauline Simonsen is the dean of Emmaus, a Christian training provider for adults in Palmerston North, New Zealand. Pauline is also a spiritual director and enjoys leading retreats or guest speaking for the wider Christian church. She is married to Roger, and they live with two much-loved cats in the beautiful Manawatu region of New Zealand.
- Click here to read previous devotions.
- We are also posting them on LCA Facebook, making it easy for you to share them with family and friends.
- Sign up to receive Daily Devotion in your inbox every morning. If you’re already doing that, please encourage others to sign up. Click here for the link.
