Advent Devotional for Dec. 8
Monday, December 8 Acts 9:10-18
Healers must be brave.
Ananias must have cursed his luck. God called him to go and visit Saul of Tarsus, Christianity’s public enemy #1, because Saul had apparently seen the light and met Jesus. In fact, he had seen Jesus so clearly that he had been blinded by the glory and God would use Ananias to heal him, and help him regain his sight. This all sounded fine except when you consider that at last sighting Saul was rounding up Christians and having them put to death. So Ananias didn’t want to go visit a guy who, last he knew, wanted to kill him. Would you?
Yet Ananias goes, and lays his hands on the murderer and says, “Brother Saul (how strange that must have sounded!), the Lord Jesus has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And Paul is healed; scales fall from his eyes and he receives the Holy Spirit and was baptized (presumably by Ananias). He goes on to be a great teacher, preacher and healer himself.
As disciples of Jesus we are called on to be not only healed, but to be healers. As such, we are called to some pretty scary places. We cannot stay by ourselves, holed up in our fortress-churches, lobbing angry words at the hostile world outside. Instead, we are called on to engage with the world even at its scariest. To be an Ananias means believing that there is truly no one beyond the reclamation of God. To be an Ananias means bringing healing to people, even when common sense tells us that these people are murderers, that they hate us, that they do not deserve healing at all.
What might the story of Ananias mean for you? Well, you might start by asking yourself who it is that you are most frightened of. Who threatens you? Is it a family member? A boss? An employee? A person of another race? Whoever it is, consider the prospect that God can actually use you to bring healing to that purpose. And consider the awesome truth that God may also use that person to bring healing to you.
Healers must be brave.
Ananias must have cursed his luck. God called him to go and visit Saul of Tarsus, Christianity’s public enemy #1, because Saul had apparently seen the light and met Jesus. In fact, he had seen Jesus so clearly that he had been blinded by the glory and God would use Ananias to heal him, and help him regain his sight. This all sounded fine except when you consider that at last sighting Saul was rounding up Christians and having them put to death. So Ananias didn’t want to go visit a guy who, last he knew, wanted to kill him. Would you?
Yet Ananias goes, and lays his hands on the murderer and says, “Brother Saul (how strange that must have sounded!), the Lord Jesus has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And Paul is healed; scales fall from his eyes and he receives the Holy Spirit and was baptized (presumably by Ananias). He goes on to be a great teacher, preacher and healer himself.
As disciples of Jesus we are called on to be not only healed, but to be healers. As such, we are called to some pretty scary places. We cannot stay by ourselves, holed up in our fortress-churches, lobbing angry words at the hostile world outside. Instead, we are called on to engage with the world even at its scariest. To be an Ananias means believing that there is truly no one beyond the reclamation of God. To be an Ananias means bringing healing to people, even when common sense tells us that these people are murderers, that they hate us, that they do not deserve healing at all.
What might the story of Ananias mean for you? Well, you might start by asking yourself who it is that you are most frightened of. Who threatens you? Is it a family member? A boss? An employee? A person of another race? Whoever it is, consider the prospect that God can actually use you to bring healing to that purpose. And consider the awesome truth that God may also use that person to bring healing to you.
posted by Michael Jordan at 6:00 AM
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