If you had the opportunity to meet Jesus Christ in person, what questions would you ask Him? Would you ask him about the passing of a love one? Or would you ask Him why He allowed certain things to happen to you in your life? Maybe you have a perplexing question from His Word that you have been unable to resolve? One theological dilemma for me is how to balance election and free will. We should not be afraid to ask these questions that surface from our hearts. While they leave question marks on our soul, they bring us to the point where we become unsatisfied with the world’s answers. Deep inside each one of us these questions drive us to a source greater than ourselves to find these answers.
In Acts 9, we are given the opportunity to hear the questions of a man who met Jesus Christ face to face. With arrest warrants in hand and a burning passion to quench the so-called Christian movement, the Apostle Paul travels to Damascus to hunt down and arrest anyone who professes the name of Jesus Christ. Hot on the trail on these believers, little did Paul know that it would be Jesus Himself who was on Paul’s trail. We find their encounter in Acts 9:3-4, “As he (Paul) was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’”
I cannot imagine what was going through Paul’s mind at this time, but I am certain that it forever changed his life. From this point forward, Jesus transformed Paul’s zeal from hunting down Christians to hunting down Gentile unbelievers for the cause of Christ. I believe that his transformation happened over two of the greatest questions in the Bible. We find these questions in Acts 9:5-6. Paul’s first question is “Who are you, Lord?” (Acts 9:5) and his second question was “What will you have me to do?” (Acts 9:6).
These are two greatest questions that you will ever ask and will spend a lifetime answering them. Each one of us will eventually give an answer for the first question: “Who are you, Lord?” To some, he is just another prophet or a historical figure from the past. Others will argue that he is an example of how we are to live. Though these are accurate answers, Jesus did not come primarily to be a historical individual or an example of morality. He came to be the Savior of the world. Man is incapable of earning salvation because of his sin. The Bible tells us that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
God has provided a solution to us. That solution is Jesus Christ who bore all of the sins of the world and satisfied the wrath of God. When we acknowledge our sin and despairing condition without Christ, we come to the cross and accept what He has done for us, that is, He paid the penalty for our sins. We ask Him to be our Lord and Savior, and immediately we receive eternal life. Again, the Bible clearly states, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
The other penetrating question that we must ask is “what will You have me to do?” There is no greater question that you will need to ask than this one posed by Paul. Paul’s great assignment would be called to declare the gospel of Christ to the Gentiles. What will your mission be? God has uniquely designed each us for a particular purpose, and we will never find fulfillment in this world greater than the fulfillment of serving Him. We are left here on earth to become ambassadors for Christ sharing with others who Christ is and what He has done for us. How will you answer these questions?
