Read Acts 8 – 11
In Acts 8:1, we start to see the darkness of Saul’s (Paul’s) heart. It is important that we grasp that Saul hated the church and took pride in destroying it. It is important that we understand the hatred of this man’s heart towards Christians, so we can truly understand the amazing transformation we see in Acts 9! In Acts 9:13 -19, we encounter a problem a lot of Christians struggle with today. Ananias knows about Paul’s past, but he can’t see the future that God has planned for him. All he sees is Paul’s life of hatred towards people like him.
This is also a problem in today’s church. We want to help people, but we often get stuck on a person’s past mistakes, rather than seeing the plan God has for them. Often times it’s those mistakes, which make them a stronger disciple later in life.
In Acts 9:20- 22, we see a man that didn’t wait to get his life together before he started his ministry! So often we think we haven’t done enough, or we aren’t “good enough” to talk about Jesus to people. But the reality is that we’re never good enough and we can never do enough. That’s the point! Jesus paid it all, he is what we should focus on, and if we could ever be good enough we wouldn’t need him. This is a showing of the greatness of Jesus as people that heard him speak said “isn’t this the man that persecuted us”. In verse 22, it says Paul grew more and more powerful and baffled the people of Damascus. That should be our life. That when people look at us they are baffled by the life changing power of Jesus in our lives. It’s OK to have a messy past! Everyone does. It’s what you do with that past, that makes you who you are.
The greatest thing about the book of Acts is that we see the church grow through love and compassion for people, and we see hope for a future. If Paul, a murder of Christians, can fall in love with the God he hated, what is stopping YOU, your neighbor, or friend from accepting Him. There is no sin too great, that Jesus cant break, or past to dark that Jesus cant light the way. We as believers need to live by this example and not judge people for their past, but turn to God to see their future.
- Shane Marks is the Resonate:College Pastor at Adventure Church
