God Is Calling

September 15, 2024

Sunday

God seeks people who will proclaim Him. He seeks those who will bring others to Christ. He sees them not as we see them. He sees them in their futures. He sees their obedience. He sees their sufferings for Him. That is not how many see those who proclaim Christ. They see them as privileged. They see them with an easy life. Maybe that's why surveys reveal that 70% of preachers would do something else if they had something else they could do. 

When Christ confronted Saul (Paul) on the Damascus Road, He already knew what Saul would do. He already knew the impact that Saul would have. He already knew how much he needed to suffer. Saul, later called Paul, could not have known that. He is left blind for three days in which he neither ate nor drank. He was waiting for Ananias to lay hands on him. Why three days? Maybe that is the amount of time that Paul needed to be convinced that he wasn't making this up. He really did encounter the risen Christ.

God created a great testimony in Paul. He was breathing threats and was infamously known as an opposer of Christ. He was a real threat to Christianity. But instead of simply snuffing out Paul's life, Christ confronts him. He does so because Paul didn't do things halfway. When Paul believed, he would do something with it even if it cost him his life. 

Most of us might say that God needed Paul but the One who can make a donkey talk doesn't need any of us to do His work. Paul needed to become an apostle for Paul's sake. As hard as Paul's life would become, his conversion and calling to preach the gospel was God's grace to him. Yes, even the suffering is God's grace.

I suspect that Paul did not know the impact that he was having during his lifetime. He might have seen himself as being forgotten except for the letters that he wrote. Yet, his impact continues to grow each time the Bible is read. His recorded testimony says that God comes for us. He does so out of His love. He gives us His grace. Let's just read Paul's salvation story. What does his story mean for us? God is calling.Acts 9:1–20 (NASB 2020)

¹ Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, ² and asked for letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them in shackles to Jerusalem. ³ Now as he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; ⁴ and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” ⁵ And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, ⁶ but get up and enter the city, and it will be told to you what you must do.” ⁷ The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. ⁸ Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus. ⁹ And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank. ¹⁰ Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.”¹¹ And the Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying, ¹² 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.” ¹³ But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many people about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints in Jerusalem; ¹⁴and here he has authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on Your name.” ¹⁵ But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; ¹⁶ for I will show him how much he must suffer in behalf of My name.” ¹⁷ So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” ¹⁸ And immediately something like fishscales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized; ¹⁹ and he took food and was strengthened. Now for several days he was with the disciples who were in Damascus, ²⁰ and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”