When Grace Reaches Someone You Fear

Ananias does not pretend Saul’s reputation is harmless. When the Lord sends him to the praying persecutor, he names the evil Saul has done and the authority Saul carries to arrest believers. The Lord answers with a purpose Ananias could not have discovered from Saul’s past: this man will bear Jesus’ name before nations, kings, and Israel. Ananias then goes, lays hands on him, and addresses him as a brother. Saul receives his sight, is baptized, and begins proclaiming Jesus. For this disciple in Damascus, obedience means allowing the Lord’s specific direction to overturn an understandable judgment about one man. We are not given Ananias’s particular commission, but we are challenged by his readiness to recognize grace. A person’s wrongdoing must be taken seriously; it must not become our argument that Jesus cannot bring genuine transformation.

Put the Word into practice

Bring to Jesus the name of someone whose hostility has made you dismiss the possibility of their conversion, and pray specifically that they would turn to him and become a faithful witness.

Search the Scripture

How does the movement from Ananias’s objection to his welcome of Saul expose the limits you may place on Jesus’ transforming grace?

A prayerful response

Jesus, you knew Saul’s violence and still called him into your service. Help me take wrongdoing seriously without limiting your mercy. Give me discernment to recognize genuine repentance and a willing heart to welcome those you transform.