Editor’s Note: The AMI QT Devotionals from March 14-20 are provided by Pastor Charles Choe of Tapestry Church, Los Angeles. Charles, a graduate of UC Riverside and Fuller Theological Seminary (M.Div.), is married to Grace, and they have three children: Chloe, Noah, and Camden, who was recently born.
Devotional Thoughts for Today
Acts 9:10-19
So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
Doing ministry for over two decades, I’ve had my share of disagreements and aggrieved relationships. The temptation to do away with people who are difficult always seems so easy to give into. Yet I have found that some of my most prized relationships today are the result of persisting in difficult relationships and reconciling over broken ones.
Paul—still known as Saul—begins his journey from persecutor of the church to apostle, after he is memorably blinded on the Damascus road by the Lord Jesus himself. Ananias, a disciple from Damascus, is called upon by God to intercede on behalf of the still blinded Saul. But Ananias is initially reluctant for good reason: Paul is a terror to the early church, and it’s possible that Ananias is on the persecutors’ list. He, nonetheless, obeys God and finds himself before Saul, saying, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, Saul regains his sight, he gets up and is baptized.
This event would become Ananias’ greatest test of faith. Remarkably, the dutiful disciple not only follows orders but seemingly does so ungrudgingly. Ananias’ words match his actions, as he not only touches Saul but establishes rapport by receiving him as a “brother.” These gestures add up to a warm welcome, demonstrating genuine love and kindness, and more importantly acceptance as a part of the community. At no point does Ananias reproach Saul. No longer does Ananias speak about “this man” (Acts 9:13), but as “Brother Saul.” The despised enemy, the alien, has become a brother.
He found the feared persecutor alone, blind, and helpless. All the hurt and fear Ananias had felt drained away. The same Lord who called Ananias to go to Saul also filled him with His love and forgiveness. The deep compassion and acceptance that Ananias offers Saul was not his to give: It represents the forgiveness possible through Christ, a reconciliation that would shape Paul’s ministry.
Often the believers are called to respond counter-intuitively to the world, and when we do, we can experience the dramatic reconciling power of the risen Christ. The persecuted Ananias, in the power of the risen Christ, calls his former persecutor “brother.” In Jesus, that kind of reconciled community is possible. Paul’s ministry would come to be defined by this reconciliation, between “Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female.” Paul’s life was changed by the encounter with the risen Christ, but through Paul, the very character of the early church will begin to be transformed.
Bible Reading for Today: Nahum 3
Lunch Break Study
Read Galatians 3:23-9: Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. [24] So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. [25] But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, [26] for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. [27] For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. [28] There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. [29] And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
Questions to Consider
- In verse 24, Paul says that “the law was our guardian until Christ came.” In what sense is this true?
- According to verse 28, what distinction has been removed in the New Covenant that once existed in the Old Covenant.
- In what way is the New Covenant of neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, no male or female, most evident in your life?
Notes
- The Law serves as a guardian, because it highlights and restrains sin, and it also foretells the coming of Christ.
- There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male or female.
- Personal Response.
Evening Reflection
“God will not look you over for medals, degrees or diplomas but for scars.” – Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915)
I was arrested once in my lifetime. Before I knew Christ, I was in the throes of my youthful rebellion when I was picked up by the police for shoplifting at the local mall. I had been stealing for a long time, so when I was finally arrested, it was definitely “a long time coming.”
In a remote rain forest jungle part of the world, there were once two villages separated by a large mountain. One village had received the gospel, built a rough structure with a cross on top, started gathering regularly for meetings, and wonderful and amazing things happened there. News of these goings on reached the other village, but only in bits and pieces because of the whole mountain separating the two. They heard that this first village had built this structure, that they gathered there, that amazing things were happening. So they decided to try the same. They built a rough structure with a cross on top, started gathering there regularly, and they would sit in this structure and wait—wait to see what would happen next. The documentary that recorded this true story ended something like this: “At the time the editing of this film was completed, there was as of yet still no missionary working among the people of the second village.”
What can we tell about someone who chooses sorcery as his occupation in life? At the very least, he isn’t normal. In Acts chapter 8, we see an interesting portrait of this funny, unusual man. He enjoyed the attention of people, boasted that he was someone great, but when someone greater came along, he fell into line and started following this person everywhere. His character seems almost recognizable, like the man in the movies who boasts in a bar of his arm-wrestling ability only to make a quick about-face when the real champion walks in. The comedy is in how shamelessly he humbles himself in the blink of an eye – a seeming defeat – but in that moment, if he does it charmingly enough, he wins over the heart of the audience.
I didn’t understand the hurry many Asian parents seemed to be in to get their children married off until someone explained to me that in this culture, parents don’t feel like their job is done until they see their children married and settled down. A majority of American parents may feel it their responsibility to get their children through high school at least; for Asian parents, getting their children married was the stage they were responsible for seeing through. Once they did, they could say, “It is finished,” (i.e., be “done” with parenting).
Have you ever found yourself angered by someone’s words or actions only to realize later that they were right and you were wrong? If so, consider yourself fortunate as it is better than being insensitive to the conviction of the Holy Spirit to the end.
In some ways, all of the Kung Fu Panda movies are about the lead character Po’s search for identity. In the first, we know from the moment he calls a goose “Dad” that he is going to have to deal with this question of where he “really” came from some day. In the second, he begins to have flashbacks of seeing his panda mother, and in the third, he meets his biological father for the first time, and the recognition is immediate. They have the same coloring, build and appetite, and as his panda dad takes him back to the village to meet more of his species, we can feel with Po his sense of wonder, happiness and joy at discovering there are others like him.
Sometimes when children of immigrants visit the countries their parents originally came from, it can be both exhilarating and traumatic. They often go to visit because they are looking for their roots, a sense of belonging, but sometimes they end up being rejected by the very people they are longing most to find connection with. When they walk into a store and can’t speak the language quite correctly, people wonder what is wrong with them. If they inadvertently say or do something rude, people assume it was intentional and react accordingly. Through such experiences, they discover things are more complicated than they’d imagined.
“Don’t you even have any eyes?” It was an immature response from an immature person (I was maybe around nine or ten), but it came from a very real sense of frustration at a perceived injustice. An adult had “accused” me of not closing the screen door properly when I came into the house, but I obviously had – if the person had any eyes, she could see for herself that it was closed. I knew I was being a little out of line, but I thought that maybe when she saw that she was the one in the wrong, she’d see my frustration was justified and let it pass, maybe even laugh. Unfortunately, some nuance was lost in translation in the bilingual household I was growing up in (apparently the adult heard the word for “eyes” as something more like “brains,” and apparently, in her culture, calling into question an adult’s possession of brains was a particularly disrespectful expression), and I got into huge trouble. It wasn’t about the door anymore but what I’d said to an adult, at which I felt even more frustrated, because I hadn’t said “brains,” I’d said “eyes.” It just ended up being a terrible, mixed-up, no good day.
Jesus’ call to love our enemies has largely been swept aside as a utopian fantasy that is unrealistic in the real world. I recently heard a joke that highlights this point. A pastor was preaching to his church about loving their enemies and he decided to take a quick survey of his congregation. He asked how many of them could count 10 or more enemies in their life. A few guilty hands went up. Then he asked how many of them had 5-10 enemies and a few more repentant hands went up. Then he asked who had at least one enemy and this time nearly all the hands were raised. Finally the preacher asked, “Who has no enemies?” After a moment, the pastor saw the hand of one elderly man being raised and, wanting the church to hear the counsel of this godly man, he asked, “What is your secret to having no enemies so late in life?” The man replied, “I thank God all those jerks have died!”