Evidence

One of my roommates in college had quite the amazing testimony of God’s redeeming grace. Born as the middle of seven children, my roommate quickly followed his older brother down a path of rebellion, joining a gang during Jr. high. After regularly participating in vandalism, he soon followed his gangmates into robbery and drug dealing. Consequently, he was caught by police, and sent to a juvenile camp for troubled youth. It was there that he was introduced to Jesus. After accepting Christ as his Savior, my roommate left behind all of the behaviors and pleasures of gang life to follow Jesus completely. This meant no turning back. In high school, he felt God calling him into full time ministry, went to Moody Bible Institute, and now serves as a Jr. High youth pastor at his church. What a testimony of God’s grace! I imagine though, that the people that knew my roommate when he was in jr. high, the people that knew the gangbanger and not the youth pastor, might be surprised at where God has brought my roommate today. In fact, if you told any of those people what my roommate was doing now, they probably wouldn’t believe it unless they saw with their own eyes the changes God has made in my roommates life. I think that’s what it was like for the Apostle Paul after he met Jesus on the road to Damascus.

Read Acts 9:20-31

Paul had just been healed from his blindness, both physical and spiritual. His eyes having been opened, he begins to preach and teach in the synagogue in Damascus, then returns to Jerusalem and preaches there as well. What is the initial reaction to Paul’s conversion? His complete turnaround? Its met with skepticism initially. Even with Barnabas vouching for Paul, it wasn’t until Paul started preaching boldly to the Jews about Jesus that the believers could see the change in him. Now, it wasn’t that Paul wasn’t changed until his actions changed. Paul’s life was very much radically altered the day Jesus knocked him on his butt on the road to Damascus. But for everyone else, the evidence of Paul’s conversion came when his actions reflected that.

For the vast majority of you, you would say that you follow Christ. That’s awesome. It fills me with excitement that there is a generation of students that Jesus has taken hold of, that desire to live for His glory. But perhaps our challenge is to ask ourselves “Are my actions evidence that my life has been changed because of Jesus?” I can proclaim all I want that I follow Jesus, but if there’s no evidence of that in my life, can I really say that I follow Him?
Maybe this was a sobering devotional for you, a wake-up call to start living out the new life God has given you. I want to remind you that God gives us the grace and strength to follow Him each morning, if that’s what we desire. If that’s what you want, take some time today to ask God to give you the grace you’ll need to demonstrate with your life that you have been radically changed.
I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back. No turning back.