Strength for the Week

“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

“Chosen” by Jesus? That’s not what Ananias had heard about Saul.

“To carry” the name of Jesus? That’s not what Ananias had seen in Saul.

An “instrument” that Jesus could refer to as “mine”? That’s not the relationship Ananias saw Saul commit himself to.

We must be careful not to define people by what we hear about them, or by what we see them do, or by the things we see them committing to. If we keep defining anyone by these measures, and a day comes when Jesus calls us to serve them, we will feel like doing so is a bad idea.

If Jesus finds that we see people this way, then he must first change us before he sends us to change them. He must change us to start seeing that the people he calls us to serve are worth reaching, even in places we would rather not go; worth serving, even in ways we don’t think they deserve; all because Jesus deems them worth sending on a mission, even the kind we feel they have no business being a part of.

We are not fit for service to Jesus in his work of extending mercy to others until we begin to see them as objects of mercy rather than judgment. And we cannot see other people as objects of mercy rather than judgment until we remember that we ourselves were once objects of judgment that Jesus turned into objects of mercy. So when Jesus says, “go serve so and so in such and such a way”, and it seems to us like a bad idea, we must respond with faith, not fussing.

By: Sean Kampondeni