And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light from Heaven. Acts 9:3
What is the most unusual conversion account you have ever heard? One that I thought was unusual was a friend of mind who was saved while she was in the barn milking her cow. But Paul Markle told me about a man he knew who was also saved as he milked a cow. I was also surprised to find out that a good many other people beside myself were also saved while in a barn, although not necessarily on a milk stool. God can, and does, reach us in just about any place you can imagine, both ordinary and unusual. So when we read about Saul of Tarsus being saved as he was struck by a bright light from Heaven, we don’t need to question whether our fairly mundane conversion experience is genuine. In fact, I can’t recall hearing of anyone else ever being saved as a result of a bright light from above.
Saul’s conversion was highly unusual. In fact, we read of nothing like it among all of those who were saved during the New Testament record. Despite it not fitting the ‘pattern’ for conversions, Saul, or Paul as he would later be called, had no question as to whether his conversion was genuine. He delighted to retell the story, two of which accounts are included further on in the book of Acts. And nobody challenged him on it, at least nobody among the Christians. They saw the proof of his salvation in his life, and his unusual conversion account was readily accepted. This should remind us that it is not the story we tell about our salvation that matters, but the difference that our salvation makes in our life.
Did that bright light have an impact on Saul? Other than seizing his undivided attention, and temporarily striking him blind, probably not. He was not saved by the bright light, but by his encounter with the One Who spoke to him. God used a bright light, because it would take a bright light to get Saul’s attention. God did not use a bright light when He saved me, because one was not needed, nor did He use a bright light to bring you to salvation. God knew what was needed, and we responded. And we have no right to question those who seem to have encountered Christ in a different manner from ours. That is, as long as their life proves that they have indeed had an encounter with Christ. Lots of folks have signed pledge cards, attended confirmation ceremonies, given their hearts to Jesus (but somehow forgot to give their life too), prayed the sinner’s prayer – and their life proves that they may well have had an encounter with religion but no encounter with the Saviour. Saul had his bright light; you and had something different, but the Lord Jesus was there to save us from our sins.
The real difference between salvation and something less lies not in whether we had an experience, but in whether that experience was an encounter with the Lord Jesus that changed our life. -Jim MacIntosh