Relationship, Not Religion – Relationship Not Religion

It might not have been a lightning bolt moment, but I’d say the Light definitely hit its target. In three days, Jesus turned a bitter man into a better man. Not with a lot of religious stuff, but with a lot of love. It happened on the way to Damascus. Saul, later known as Paul, had a moment of enlightenment, a come to Jesus meeting. A flash of light and the voice of God took Saul from a religious, extremist Jew who killed Christ followers to a dedicated apostle who delivered the saving message of Christ everywhere he went.

Oswald Chambers gives us insight into the true motivation of Saul’s conversion: “Paul was not given a message or a doctrine to proclaim. He was brought into a vivid, personal, overpowering relationship with Jesus Christ.”[1]

Have you heard the story? Here’s a refresher.

Saul, a radical Jew, fixed his sights on joining the ranks of the religious elite. He gained fame after Jesus was crucified. His path—the persecution of anyone claiming that Jesus was the Christ. Saul was relentless and showed no mercy to those who followed Jesus, otherwise known as the Way. In Acts, chapter seven, we read that Saul was invited to watch as Stephen, “a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit,”[2] was murdered with stones. “Saul was right there, congratulating the killers.”[3]

Saul had a plan. His plan had created a hard, bitter attitude which motivated him to uphold the laws outlined in Hebrew Scriptures. His murderous plot stopped at nothing.

God also had a plan. His plan was to use Saul for His glory. He had to do a lot of work in Saul, though, to turn him around. As Saul traveled to Damascus for the sole purpose of taking every Christ follower prisoner, he was stopped in his tracks by an overpowering light and when he opened his eyes, he couldn’t see. That’s right. For three days Saul lived in darkness. Maybe God wanted him to see the darkness which already surrounded him. God closed his eyes, sealed them shut, until Saul was ready to see the truth.

On the third day of Saul’s darkness, Ananias, one of His disciples, had a vision. God told him to find Saul. Not an easy task for Ananias, who argued with God in fear that he too might be killed.[4]

Saul also had a vision. A man named Ananias would lay hands on him and he would see again. So, when the scale-like covering fell from Saul’s eyes, the Light entered in and his sight was restored.

All Heaven broke loose and Saul encountered God on a personal level. He was no longer focused on the law, but on the One who set forth the law. His resolve turne
d from killing to healing, from stoning to encouraging, from enforcing the letter of the law to living by the Spirit of the law, the Spirit of God.

Paul embraced a relationship with a personal God. The expression of his new passion took him all over the countryside, spreading the gospel and bringing others to a relationship with God. Why? Because it was personal.

The God of the Old and New Testaments is a relational God—not just for a select few, but for all. The whole story presented in the Bible—from start to finish, all sixty-six books—is about God’s relationship with His people. He chose the Israeli nation to spread the word to other nations. He told the Israelites, “I’m after a love that lasts, not more religion.”[5] When the Israelites chose to do things their own way, He sent His Son. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”[6]