Why Are You Waiting?
Good Morning Friends,
If you think your past is keeping you from a future of serving God think again. Just look at the life and conversion of Paul also known as Saul. If you are saved. If you are fully surrendered. If you are all in. If you are available and willing to be used. The past is the past. There are some things we should postpone. But I cannot think of a good reason for delaying this walk in the Way. Why Are You Waiting?
Scripture: Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do. “The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.” The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” All who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem among those who invoked this name? And has he not come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?” Saul became increasingly more powerful and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Messiah.
Acts 9:1-22 (NRSV)
“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, educated strictly according to our ancestral law, being zealous for God, just as all of you are today. I persecuted this Way up to the point of death by binding both men and women and putting them in prison, as the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. From them I also received letters to the brothers in Damascus, and I went there in order to bind those who were there and to bring them back to Jerusalem for punishment. “While I was on my way and approaching Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone about me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ Then he said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth whom you are persecuting.’ Now those who were with me saw the light but did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me. I asked, ‘What am I to do, Lord?’ The Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go to Damascus; there you will be told everything that has been assigned to you to do.’ Since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, those who were with me took my hand and led me to Damascus. “A certain Ananias, who was a devout man according to the law and well spoken of by all the Jews living there, came to me; and standing beside me, he said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight!’ In that very hour I regained my sight and saw him. Then he said, ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear his own voice; for you will be his witness to all the world of what you have seen and heard. And now why do you delay? Get up, be baptized, and have your sins washed away, calling on his name.’
Acts 22:3-16 (NRSV)
And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
Mark 16:15-18 (NRSV)
to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being,
Galatians 1:16 (NRSV)
Message: Every time I think about Paul’s conversion I am amazed at the grace of God but also the way of life of the Christian and the creative purpose within each of us that allows a 180-degree transformation to occur. The stories of conversion are set forth multiple times in the Bible indifferent context. We see it in Chapter 9, 22 and 26 in the book of Acts as recorded by Luke (though it was not a firsthand account) and in Galatians by Paul himself. This morning’s devotional is not designed to harmonize these accounts but instead to help us face the reality here that conversion is possible only because God has removed our transgression from us and set them as far as the east is from the west. So, friends, if there was hope for Paul, there is hope for us too, for Paul was a very unlikely candidate for the service of the Christian faith. He was hated by Christians and did everything in his power to destroy the name of Jesus. Yet God reached down in grace and took this man from where he was and used him to change the world. Now you may think that you are not worthy, but the thing is that God can and will use you if you just show up and make yourself available. Your present circumstances need not be a problem. Your weakness is not a problem for God. God can still use you to confound the strongest of those enemies in your life. He can take your life and make it an inspiration for others if you are willing to be part of God’s continuing act of creation.
Pray we approach the mystery of the unknown with the intention of using our life as an instrument of the Spirit of God. Pray we have people like Ananias to help interpret for us our experiences in a Christian context but also be open to God speaking to us in the mystery of our faith. Pray we submit to being saved. Pray we have our blinders removed. Pray we embrace life as a purposeful journey that God makes straight. Pray we receive the gift of sight to see God’s will for our lives. Pray we embrace the Way as not just an interpretation of what evil and suffering is about but also as a Way of life allowing us to join in the creative work of the Holy Spirit in the Stream of Holy History.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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