First Things First

After encountering Jesus, Saul doesn't eat or talk for three days. He is blinded on his way to arrest and persecute christians. Talk about being put in time-out! The Son of God blinds him, and asks him why he is persecuting him. Then, he let's him think on it. Saul said nothing back, because there was nothing to say back. He was guilty, and he knew that Jesus spoke the truth. What went on in the mind of Saul these three days? He was very passionate for God, but he now realized that he had very passionately rejected the Messiah of God. He was committed to committing treason to the very God he loved. He probably wondered why that flash of lightning didn't kill him on the spot. His sins were certainly worthy of such a death. This would naturally lead to wondering why he was still alive. During this black-out, scenes like the one of Stephen being stoned to death had to play over and over in his mind. He had to think (like he would later write in Romans) "Oh what a wretched man I am, who will rescue me from this body of death?" The next thing he knows the scales are being removed from his eyes by a man that he was certainly coming to persecute. He can see. The man lays hands on Saul and he receives the Holy Spirit, giving evidence of Saul's conversion from the Damascus Road experience. But catch this, everyone else didn't know what was going on in Saul's head. Everyone else didn't know that he had repented and turned to Jesus, because he hasn't spoken in three days. So, the first thing he does is get baptized to identify with Christ...then he eats and drinks for physical nourishment. First things first, let others know that you have come to Christ. ---Acts 9:1-19