We love stories of life change. As long as their positive. And there is no story quite like that of Saul of Tarsus, the persecutor of the Christian faith turned proclaimer of the good news of Jesus Christ. In Acts 9:19-25, Luke continues his account of Saul's dramatic conversion story, providing Theophilus, the one to whom the Book of Acts was originally written, with a synopsis of this man's incredible encounter with the risen Christ and all that happened afterwards. But we have to supplement Luke's more abbreviated version of the story with input from Saul himself, provided many years later. It seems that Saul, better known to us as Paul, never tired of recalling and retelling his dramatic salvation story, because it was a constant reminder to him of the grace, mercy and sovereignty of God. Paul knew better than anyone else just how radical the transformation in his life had been. He knew he had been damaged goods and completely undeserving of God's grace. In fact, he would say that, when it came to sinners, he was the worst of them all. While he would constantly defend the validity of his apostleship, he would also declare himself to be "the least of the apostles" and "unworthy to be called an apostle" – all because he had persecuted the church of God. He would also refer to himself as the least of all the saints. And yet, he knew that he had been given the grace of God to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. He was a changed man. And it was a change that only God could have brought about.
