God took Saul, the self-described “chief of sinners,” and made him into Paul, a chief of missionaries.
Don’t let your past dictate how you think God can use you in the NOW.
Paul would go on to write a large portion of the New Testament, as well as plant churches across the entire known world.
As we see in the life of Saul, however, what we need is a radical transformation from God—not just “good deeds.”
There is also a stress in Luke that this encounter was not merely subjective, for it also affected those who were with Saul to some degree.
Notice, too, that in Acts, Saul’s name does not change at the point of his conversion.
Rather, when he first begins to be the missionary to the Gentiles, he adopts the Greek (or Roman) name Παυλος [Paulos] (cf. Acts 13:9).
Acts 9 compares Saul to a wild, untamed animal. This was, perhaps, a façade, or a mask.
Like Saul, our tough exterior can be a cover for a broken interior.
It is possible to judge Saul on the basis of his façade. We also do that to people today.
But his Damascus Road experience shows that God judged him by a different point of view, in terms not only of what he was but also in terms of what he could become.
God judges us by a different standard than we judge each other.
He sees with eyes of love and mercy.
Paul’s conversion is sometimes described as a typical biblical conversion. But it has many atypical features.
It was triggered by a post-resurrection appearance of Christ.
It was a sudden turnaround in direction with no evidence that he had been moving toward Christianity.