Pastors Travis and Shawn shared from Acts 9 about the Holy Spirit’s role as God’s expression of grace. Now, sometimes we need to receive expressions of grace from those around us, while other instances we are called to be an extension of God’s grace to others, and both scenarios are orchestrated by God’s Spirit. Let’s look at the lives of two such individuals.
Saul seems about as unlikely of a candidate for grace that our minds can conceive. He had not only been in agreement with Stephen’s stoning in Acts 8; he pervasively launched a quest to exterminate Christians. The blood of the earliest saints was clearly on his hands. He’d even procured papers to require the Damascus synagogues to participate as well. But just as we might likely judge Saul as unworthy of grace…in steps Jesus. As Travis shared “just when Saul thought he was chasing some religious mission, the Holy Spirit was chasing him!” And that divine chase extends to us as well! Thankfully, we can never walk beyond the reach of God’s grace through the gift of His Holy Spirit. Because when it comes to God’s unmerited favor, none of us could ever “touch bottom” and just when we are most undeserving of grace, God may send an Ananias our way!
But sometimes rather than being a recipient, we are required to be a vessel of grace to someone else and occasionally we hesitate. I think Ananias could relate…
God graced him with a vision! This is pretty cool until you consider that his vision was all about someone else’s blessing. Now I’m guessing that Ananias would’ve normally been fine with that. I mean he was no doubt a godly man who was quick to extend grace to others, which may have been part of the reason he was selected. In fact, God was so sure of his obedience that He’d ALREADY given Saul the vision of Ananias coming!
But when Jesus tells him to go, Ananias wavers for a moment. He begins to “inform” Jesus of all that Saul had done (just in case He’d missed it). But in the end, he said YES! Thank God! This is the Scripture’s only account of Ananias, but from his single act of courageous obedience he altered the world. The pouring out of grace to one undeserving individual served to change the entire world and some 2000 years later we are not only still talking about it, we are also still reaping the benefits of it.
This brings me to the question I’ve been asking myself all day; “Who is that “undeserving” person in my life that God is calling me to be a vessel of grace to?” Are there any undeserving candidates in your life? Probably. But may we each set aside our fears and choose to be an extension of God’s grace and then watch as the Lord just might use that grace to change the world!
(For the rest of this devotional see http://hopeandlightforthejourney.blogspot.com)
Sandy Anderson
Community Director