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Please tell me, I’m not the only one!

Have you ever thought you might be the only one?
Have you ever heard the same message from multiple sources?

If you answered yes to either of the above questions, be assured, you’re not alone!

It was only one week. The Bible study I participate in is studying Acts. We were reviewing Paul’s testimony in Acts 22 that week.

As I sat and listened to the speaker on campus a few nights later, sharing on Matthew 28, he referenced Paul’s testimony in Acts. I heard the voice of God.

Then the pastor in church that Sunday preaching through James emphasized a similar point. Okay, God, You have my attention.

The pastor spoke about the metaphor James uses in chapter one of a mirror. “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.”
James 1:23, 24.

The pastor went on to explain, our natural face is the face of our birth. It is the picture of who God created us to be; the purpose we were born with. It challenged — Who did God create me to be? How can I live that out?

As Paul recounts his testimony of how he came to Christ in Acts 22:6-16, he shares how when he fell to the ground, was surrounded by a great light, and heard a voice (verse 7), he immediately responded with a question, who are you Lord? (verse 8). Jesus identified himself and Paul (then still Saul) follows it up with a second question, what shall I do Lord? (verse 10).

Jesus was no longer that carpenter from Nazareth he had been persecuting. Saul knew Jesus was his Lord!

As Paul shared his testimony in Jerusalem. He started by identifying himself as a Jew, from Tarsus, a citizen of no obscure city (Rome), educated by Gamaliel, zealous for God (“as all of you are this day.”) He continues by how he persecuted and delivered to death followers of the Way (Jesus).  Acts 21:39-22:5.

And then he shares his encounter with Jesus on the Damascus Road. And those two BIG questions:

Who are you, Lord?
What shall I do, Lord?

Jesus responded to his first question, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting’.
Acts 22:8.

Jesus, the one who gave Saul his identity. Jesus held up his mirror and Saul beheld his natural face, the person he was created to be.

Saul’s next question was the natural follow-up, what shall I do, Lord?

I pondered my background and God whispered, — your identity doesn’t rest in your family of origin. Your identity doesn’t rest in where you were born. Your identity doesn’t rest in your education. Your identity doesn’t rest in you zeal. Your identity rests in me, in being my child.

“But to all who did receive him,
who believed in his name,
he gave the right to become children of God,
who were born, not of blood
nor of the will of the flesh
nor of the will of man,
but of God.”
John 1:12, 13

The second question is just as important. Ananias answered that question for Saul a few verses later. “The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear a voice from his mouth; for you will be a witness …” Acts 22:14, 15.

God reminded me of two importants that week. He reminded me of my identity. He reminded me to be asking, what would it look like for me to trust you today? Or in Paul’s words, what shall I do, Lord?

Who do you see when you look in your mirror each morning?
How might God respond if you ask, what would it look like to trust you today, Lord?

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Copyright: Sue Tell, March 2025