01/24/2025
Today let’s contemplate our being chosen by God for a life and relationship with Him through Jesus; even as much as we ourselves choose to live that life and love our Lord. I think about Saul becoming Paul and this most intense selection by Jesus. After Saul had been struck down in the midst of his noon day prayers, and blinded, he was told to go into Jerusalem and wait there for instructions. Are we chosen too? Are we humbled as Saul was? Do we obey, and go to meet Him?
“Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.”
Acts 9:8-9 - ESV
In the meantime, there was a disciple named Ananias who answered a vision in which he was called by saying "Here I am, Lord". Ananias knew who Saul was, and he told Jesus in prayer of his concerns when he was asked to visit him in Damascus...
“But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name."”
Acts 9:13-14 ESV
Ananias was afraid of Saul and disliked what he did to those who believed in Jesus, yet he was being asked to go into this man's place of strength and reveal himself to him as a Christian...
“But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name."”
Acts 9:15-16 ESV
So, what should Ananias do? Should he go? How would you have reacted if this were you? Remember, only Saul had seen and heard Jesus when he was struck down, so those who were with him were still men who felt they should be persecuting Christians. This was a dangerous mission in the eyes of Ananias. But despite the danger, Ananias put his fear behind him and went. And when he arrived in Damascus he spoke as Jesus had instructed him...
“So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit."”
Acts 9:17 ESV
It was at this point that Saul actually became a believer and realized he had truly been chosen...
“And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; and taking food, he was strengthened. For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus.”
Acts 9:18-19 ESV
How have you been chosen? Did Jesus have to strike you down in some way? Did He blind you to the world? Did He send the Holy Spirit to move over you? Did a disciple like Ananias come to you? Or, did He simply reveal himself to you through The Word, and lead you to choose and follow Him? However it occurred, you were chosen by the Lord even in those minutes when you thought you were choosing Him.
“No one can come to me [Jesus] unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”
John 6:44 ESV
Love can be unrequited, but a Relationship requires two participants in order to form. In order for Saul to enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ he had to be led to believe, and, although this is not as dramatic for most of us, it happens in our lives too; we are led to believe.
So we choose to believe, and God has chosen us. In this exchange, this handshake, or embrace, our relationship with God through Christ begins. And, through many lessons and perhaps some suffering too, we might find ourselves in the shoes of Ananias... and in that strained moment of our own fear, we will be asked to answer boldly, "Here I am, Lord" and quite possibly to go into a place of discomfort or danger... trusting solely in Him. Are our ears open to this call? Are we strong and courageous enough to take a burning coal on our lips as Isaiah did and in our faith answer “send me.”? Will we go? I pray that in our moments of decision we are that faithful and will go.
“And I [Isaiah] said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.””
Isaiah 6:5-8 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for choosing me, drawing me to Jesus, and revealing yourself so that I might choose you through my belief in Christ as well. I am grateful Lord that you didn't have to strike me blind as you did Saul, but I also know that if that had been necessary, our relationship, and your love, would have been worth the price... any price. You are the focus of my life, and if you call me to a task outside my comfort zone I pray that my faith will be sufficient to overcome my fear, and that my trust in you will be strong and without doubt or reservation. Holy, Holy, Holy are you my God who has called me to yourself and to do your will. Holy Father, I praise you on my own road to Damascus, Emmaus, or even to Jerusalem and the house of Pontius Pilat. You are my God, and I follow your Son Jesus to Calvary and the foot of the cross. Your choosing me exceeds my understanding and yet in it I offer you my humble thanks and my obedient life in return. Praised be your Holy name Father for you are indeed merciful and full of grace. You love the world and have sent your Son Jesus Christ so that we will be saved and freed from the bonds of sin and chains of death by Him. In you is life, and in Jesus you have drawn me to begin a loving relationship with you forevermore. Help me in my unbelief and give me the courage and strength to answer your every beck and call. Let your powerful draw bring all of mankind to your Son, the Christ, and I pray that they, for their parts, will each believe in Him, and enter into their own eternal relationship with you. This is my prayer today and I offer it in the name of Jesus Christ your Son, your Perfect Lamb, your Dove of Peace, and the King of Kings.
Praised be your eternal name… and all believers say… AMEN!
““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
John 3:16-17 ESV
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6 ESV
Rich Forbes