The very first words of Paul when confronted by Christ were: “Who art thou?”
To which the answer came clear and strong “I am Jesus!” It was a startling discovery, and Paul might well have exclaimed, ‘What, Jesus alive?’
Jesus had been put to death, crucified. All that remained to do was to blot out the memory of Him and destroy what represented Him.
To this work Paul (then Saul) had committed himself.
We can hardly imagine, then, what a startling and paralyzing thing it was to be confronted with the fact that Jesus was not dead, but alive, and in glory.
And not only with the fact, but with the Person Himself.
All that this implied and involved has been the teaching of many centuries since.
We begin our Christian life by an experience of this living reality.
Not a Jesus of history, but a Jesus of heart experience.
That He really is alive is the one thing which is open to be proved by us, and it is the most serious matter as to our eternal destiny.
We have only to drop our traditions, our prejudices, our suspicions, our questions, our mental problems, and, quietly kneeling, speak to Him (although unseen) as we would speak to one whom we could see, telling Him out of the honesty of our heart what we would tell Him if we were face to face.
The first step is definitely to speak to Him as to a Person.
This is the way of a discovery.
We learn from the New Testament that the Spirit of GOD is abroad in the world just to bring about this discovery to make real that Jesus lives to save and be our very life.
This wonderful realization, that Jesus lives, comes to the heart of every one who honestly turns and puts it to the test; and everything springs out of that.
There is only one way, really, of knowing Jesus, and that is by coming to Him.
It may seem very unreal and foolish to say something to someone of whose existence you have no inward proof; but might this not be the same in other circumstances?
~T. Austin Sparks~