Real Hope: A Study of Acts 6 -11Sample

When Faith Trumped Logic

READ ACTS 9

Acts 9 reads like a le Carré thriller. An assassin’s life is saved by those he is there to kill. Is he a double agent? A foiled murder plot followed by relief as the assassin changes the world. The story of Saul’s (later to become Paul's) blindness and conversion in Damascus is an incredible story; however, the real treasure follows. Paul is blind for days before God sends a sceptical Ananias to restore his sight. Ananias is far from taciturn about God’s plan; after all, Paul is there to destroy everything he loves (Acts 9:13). Ananias’s relationship with God is sound, and he chooses to pray with and heal Paul.

Paul now has a choice. To return to his earthly calling or accept heaven’s. Paul declares the Gospel from Damascus’s synagogue steps with such passion that the irate local priests plot his death (Acts 9:23). Paul narrowly escapes. Tales of Paul’s conversion, powerful preaching, and dramatic escape were not enough to convince the fearful disciples back in Jerusalem (Acts 9:26). They were hiding from him! They must choose: trust in God’s plan or cave in to human fear.

Acts 9 records how the faltering flame of the early Christian church is fanned into an inferno by a few faith-filled but illogical decisions. Paul exchanged a lifetime commitment to tradition and the law for a carpenter’s crucified son. Ananias overruled his natural scepticism to help an enemy. And fearful disciples came out of hiding to extend the Christian church in Caesarea, Tarsus, Judea, Galilee, and Samaria (Acts 9:30–31). Consider the life and death circumstances of Acts 9. Which is your natural response: faith or logic?

Written by DWAYNE JEFFRIES