Acts 22:4
And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.

In other words, Paul himself was once like those he is addressing. Paul himself once thought that those who proclaimed Christ needed to be beaten and imprisoned and even killed. Paul himself once believed Jesus to be a false path and a threat to Judaism and even blasphemy to God. It was a logical perspective for a diligent Jew to have. And yet Paul no longer agreed with that viewpoint. His heart was changed, and that changed his mind about the whole thing.

Paul met Jesus for himself, and that is what made the difference. He now saw Christ as a living person, as God in the flesh, though He had ascended back to heaven. He saw that everything people were saying about Jesus and His death and what it meant was actually true. He understood that they had been right all along, and he had been so wrong, but there was still redemption for him. There was forgiveness for Paul, who had persecuted Jesus, and there is forgiveness, then, for anyone else who would come to Him.

Sometimes the preconceived notions that we have are logical and reasonable. Sometimes the ideas we hold make a lot of sense. But that doesn’t mean those ideas are right or that we aren’t mistaken. So instead of holding on to false beliefs out of pride or stubbornness or any other reason, let us allow God to show us what is right. Let us be willing to change our minds or change our stance on an issue as God shows us His version of the truth. What a powerful moment it is when God shines His light upon our lives and we finally realize we had been fighting against God Himself all along.

We can learn valuable lessons from the experiences of Paul. He is the perfect example of a person whose mind was turned around completely, whose perspective changed so dramatically. There’s nothing wrong with changing our minds when we are changing our minds to the right thing. So let us be open to the Lord’s leading in making sure our perspectives match up with His. And we can use those experiences to reach others, showing them that we once thought as they did, but Jesus changed everything for us and can do the same for them.