But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: -- Acts 9:15 (KJV)
The man who held the coats at Stephen's stoning ends up writing thirteen letters of the New Testament. The man who breathed threats becomes the missionary who carries the gospel across the Gentile world. And nowhere in that turn does Saul talk himself into faith. Jesus interrupts him on a road. Three days of silence empty him out. An ordinary believer says brother. His sight returns, he is baptized in the name of Jesus, he is filled with the Holy Ghost. The Acts 2:38 pattern reaches the worst case the early church could picture.
The Gospel Erases the Lines
The Saul who would have hated half his future congregation became the man who wrote that there is no longer Jew or Greek, that believers are "fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God." He did not learn that from a book. He lived it. The persecutor and the persecuted ended up at the same table, in the same family, calling on the same name.
This is where the story presses back on us. If God can reach Saul, then the names we have filed away as unreachable need to come back before Him.
Who Is Your One
There is a name you may have quietly filed under hopeless. The relative who said the cruel thing. The person who lied about you. The version of yourself you are sure has run out of chances. Hold that name next to Saul.
The Lord who stopped Saul on the road is not confused by the name you are carrying. Pray for that person before you tell anyone else this story.
