Grace of Life (1 of 6): Transformed Purpose

This is day one of a six-day devotional on living by grace instead of law. Download the PDF version of this study on law vs. grace.
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See Acts 9:1-19; 22:2-21

The hot sand swirled around us as Damascus came into view. My adrenaline started pumping. I had legal authority to arrest Christians in this city and could not wait to stamp out this crazy belief system. I had already done a great job defending the Law of Moses in Jerusalem. I was determined to live and preserve my faith.

Suddenly, a blinding light knocked me to the ground. I heard, “Saul, Saul, why are you trying to hurt Me?”

“Who are you, Sir?” I asked.

“I am Jesus,” He said, “the One you are trying to persecute. You have been fighting against my prodding.”

“What should I do?”

“Go on into the city. You will be told what to do next.”

My companions on this mission were standing around kind of confused. They heard something, but did not see what I saw. I got up and found myself blind. For the next three days, I could see nothing. The only thing I could look at was something I had never seen: deep inside my heart.

I reflected on who I was and what all this might mean. Had God chosen me because of my tribe? I was a perfect Pharisee. My name was even in some newer textbooks of my teacher Gamaliel. I was a hammer for God’s ways. The more I tried to convince myself, however, the more worthless my accomplishments felt. My self-image faltered on this Jesus.

After three days of staring into my inner darkness, a man named Ananias came and laid his hands on me. This man had a flawless reputation for keeping the Law—just ask any Jew in Damascus. He laid his hands on me, and in the name of Jesus I was healed. Hard scales fell off my eyes.

Ananias did not tell me I had to follow the law more closely. Instead, he invited me to be cleansed of my sins by invoking Jesus name in water baptism. I had always tried to be sin-free by my impeccable record and popular reputation for keeping the Law.

Something had changed inside me. Those three days let me see that even though I was impressive on the outside, my heart was dark with sinful muck. I wanted out.

I repented of my sins and went into the water, believing that only Jesus was able to cleanse my guilt. He filled me with His Spirit. Later, back in the Temple in Jerusalem, Jesus appeared to me in a vision. He said I would not be effective in Jerusalem.

I presented Him my credentials. I know my fellow Jews would listen because of my zeal and perfect law-keeping. But He turned down my argument. He said He would send me to preach to Gentiles—the non-Jews!

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See Galatians 2:11-21

We were having a great time with Peter in Antioch. This elder from Jerusalem had come down for a conference on evangelism. We had seen some great miracles while he was with us and enjoyed some amazing prayer services.

The fun part was the church pot-luck dinner. Peter was from Jerusalem where most seafood and non-kosher food is outlawed. We introduced him to some stuff he had never tasted before. He seemed a little nervous eating Gentile food, but he got over it and had a good time.

Then we got word that the apostle James was sending down some other leaders to help with our conference. When Peter heard that, he refused to eat any more non-kosher food. He started eating only Jewish food—the things commanded in the Law of Moses.

I thought this was a little weird. Then, I saw other Jews in our church were starting to do the same. They stopped fellowshipping over Gentile food and would only eat with other Jews. I thought, Wait, Peter is the one who had the vision about the non-kosher foods God said to eat.

I walked into one of these Jew-only meals and saw some Gentiles who were now only eating kosher food. I spoke out to him immediately, “If you, a Jew can live like a Gentile, why would you make Gentiles live like Jews? No one is justified by keeping Moses’ Law. We are justified by faith in Christ. If I rebuild what I destroyed, I sin,” I told him.

“I died to the Law so I could live to God. I am crucified with Christ so the Law has no power over me. If I please God by following a list of rules, then Jesus’ work was worthless.”

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