Before You Begin: Acts 9:10-25
Saul’s Conversion
In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called him in a vision, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord,” he answered.
The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with the authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord – Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here – has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
Saul in Damascus and Jerusalem
Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the son of God. All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.
After many days had gone by, there was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him, but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.
Stop and Consider: All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name?
Questions Asked of Me: What changes has Christ made in your life since you put your trust in Him? Even if you received him as a child, how is He continuing to change you…. as recently as today?
The list of what changes Christ didn’t make would be a shorter one but I digress. Since I put my trust in Him my life has taken a completely different turn. I feel like I always have someone in my corner that sees the best in me and gets excited with every newfound opportunity; even moving to Nineveh. He has given me strength I didn’t know I had. He has given me courage to get through things I didn’t know I was capable of getting through. He has given me the greatest relationship of all with Him as the center but He has also given me my family back. They didn’t want anything to do with the old me; it was too hard to watch bad decision after bad decision even from a distance or the silence that was deafening. He changed my heart and gave me the ability to forgive as I was forgiven by Him, my parents, my daughters. There were no scales over my eyes but He changed the way I look at things, trying to be more like Him.
And….even when I fail miserably; knowing what I should do and reacting completely the opposite, He just shakes his head, extends his hand to mine, and gives me another opportunity to get it right.
How do you react to your seemingly constant need for repentance and refinement? Does it drive you crazy? Does it discourage you? Or does it comfort you to know that He’s still willing to keep working on you?
OMGosh…. I am just grateful to know He is still willing to keep working on me. My pastor in Michigan always said “With Jesus, failure is never final.” Whew….I love that I have the opportunity to repent, sometimes every day. How in the heck could it drive me crazy or discourage me to know that I get to say I’m sorry – and mean it – and get a “Do Over” ??
“Jesus, you and I both know how terrible my reaction was to my first night in Nineveh. Thank you for helping me see how spoiled I had become and giving me this blog to “out” myself for my behavior and to give you the glory for getting me back to reality.”
I love that failure is never final and I am grateful to have a relationship with the God of second chances and I will continue to repent and welcome refinement at every opportunity.
Are there elements of your reputation that make it hard for you (especially at work or within your family) to relinquish visible control of your life to Christ? What patterns of expected behavior present the toughest obstacles to overcome?
In the beginning….YES. I have mentioned before that, after accepting Jesus, I was worried that my “friends” would be able to tell. Instead of trying to get others to seek Jesus in that room full of other alcoholics, I was worried about them being able to tell that I found Him. If I had it to do all over again, I would race to that same group of people and relinquish ALL visible control to Jesus so others would want it too. Even had I known about Paul’s conversion and his eagerness to preach that Jesus was the Son of God, I don’t think I could have the courage to act on it as he did.
I am pretty transparent now when it comes to people knowing of Jesus in my life; sometimes even wearing a t-shirt to the gym or using a scripture sleeve at Starbucks…. anything to encourage conversation about Him even if I don’t initiate it.
Detour: I knew there was a reason I liked Paul so much. Beth sums one of the reasons perfectly in her reading today: “The Lord told Ananias to look for Saul praying at a certain house. The Bible doesn’t tell us the content of Saul’s prayer, but it does tell us what happened next. Ananias came to Saul, and….
Then he placed his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord – Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here – has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. (Acts 9:17-18)
Paul’s version of these events appears in Galatians 1:14-18. He was careful to tell the reader that he did not consult any man but went immediately into Arabia following his conversion. Apparently Saul thought he’d better get to know the One who obviously knew him so well. He had already learned more about Scripture in his young years than most learn in a lifetime. What he needed now was to come to grips with the Author.
I love how Paul, even knowing more Scripture than most at that time, didn’t think that was enough. He wanted to learn more of the author of those books; the One who obviously knew him so well.
I am addicted to education and love learning. I turned to the Bible to learn more of Jesus; through his parables and the people in those 66 books with a history of their own but one I saw similarities in for myself. THAT is where I came to see a kindred spirit in Paul; not looking for Jesus when he was found by Him, being on the wrong road – literally and figuratively speaking, and trying to embrace the good and bad parts of his past, learning to give Jesus the glory for it all.
Beth also mentions Paul’s physical characteristics: “A writer in the second century described him as “a man rather small in size, bald-headed, bow-legged, with meeting eyebrows, a large, red and somewhat hooked nose.” Little about his physical appearance was intimidating, but when the Spirit of God fell on him, he became the spiritual heavyweight champion of the world!
Leave it to Jesus for me to be humbled even more. My Bible crush is on a man that many would not find attractive yet in stumbling across Paul as the author of all those letters in the New Testament, I was never drawn to someone more because of his love for Jesus and all that he attained to be for Him, in Him, and through Him. I am so grateful that Jesus picked him that day BECAUSE of his past, to be a spokesperson for him….no one more surprised than those of us on our own road to Damascus.
If Jesus can use Paul and change his life the way he did; He certainly can do it for me. I hope that others around me can say the same thing…. “If Jesus can use Gidget and change her life the way he did; He certainly can do that for me, right?”
Praying God’s Word Today: O Lord, place deep within my heart the desire to put it all away – anger, wrath, malice, slander, lying, filthy language – everything. For the reality is this: I have put off the old man with his practices and have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge according to my Creator’s image (Colossians 3:8-10). As one who belongs to Christ Jesus, I have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires (Galatians 5:24). May I bear the precious fruit of this change in ever-increasing measure as You stir up obedience within me.
Colossians 3:8-10
But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed knowledge in the image of its Creator.
Dear Jesus:
Please continue to change my heart every day. I have made the mistake of getting too comfortable in my surroundings and my relationship with You. I want to hit the reset button today and put away the things I once thought were important and turn only to You. Help me to live as the new creation you made every day and not slide back into any patterns I once lived by. I am grateful for the second chances that You give to me over and over again and I promise to make the best of every chance given. I’m sorry for just living obedient but grumbling all the way, not being grateful or faithful when things don’t go my way. I relinquish all visible control to You but I also want you to know that I give You my heart and my feelings and my common sense too so that I can live up to the potential that YOU know is in me. I want to be noticeably different all the time to everyone and I know that to be that way I have to give everything to You every day.
Consider it given.
Love,
Me
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