Transformed

This is for the Pray. Study. Grow. Devotional Material that comes out every week at Schweitzer UMC. So, here's the devotion that I submitted in the midst of the NT 90 series.

Acts 9-11

Reread Acts 9:19b-22. I distinctly remember what my mother said to me the first time I came home from college: “What happened to you?!” I had changed drastically in that first month of college that my personality was hard to recognize as the child she had always known. Now, I made my own decisions and lived “in the real world.” Just as that transformation happened when I left for college, a transformation happened when I became a Christian. My values shifted, my decisions were altered, and I received the gift of the Holy Spirit. I am positive that people from school and community events asked themselves…“What happened to her?!” There was evidence of a transformation.

In today’s reading, Saul puzzled the Jews by “proving that Jesus was the Messiah” (Acts 9:22). Saul used to be one who persecuted Jesus’ followers. He even approved of the stoning of Stephen in chapter seven! Obviously, there was a HUGE transformation that happened in Saul’s life because of Jesus.

We, too, have that transformation happen within our lives as we continue with Jesus. People should begin to ask, “What happened to him/her?” Our values should look different than what the world values. Our time should be spent in different ways than how the world spends their time. But we should not forget about the world, for they are the ones we must tell about the change within us!

How have you been transformed by having the love of Jesus in your life?