Day 2

There can often be so much hustle and bustle at Christmas time that if we aren’t careful, we might miss the voice of the Lord. We get so busy with our plans and to-do lists that we might miss the moments. We don’t want to be interrupted! We have things to do! But often, God works best through interruption.

In today's reading, we see that Ananias got interrupted by God. I’m sure he had a whole day planned that did not involve ministering to a murderer. But he was asked by God to go and find Saul, the Christian killer, and help him recover his sight. When Ananias first got the marching orders, he basically said, “Are you sure God?” Didn’t God know that Saul had been slaughtering Jesus' followers? But the Lord’s response was, “Go anyway.”

You will probably have moments this Christmas season where you will be tempted to ask that question. “God, are you sure?” He may ask you to apologize even though your spouse was to blame. Invite the estranged family member to dinner even though it might be uncomfortable. Forgive your parents even though they don’t deserve it.

Follow Jesus long enough, and you’ll learn it’s common for God to ask us to do something against our own volition. Usually, it’s inconvenient, embarrassing, or even dangerous. Obedience and convenience are hardly ever synonymous. To be obedient means to hear God’s word and act on it. It really isn’t obedience if it was our idea to begin with. Obedience involves a clashing of wills. It’s placing what we’d prefer aside to align our will with God’s because we trust He has a better way.

Because Ananias obeyed God and put his life on the line to find Saul, he was there when Saul received the Holy Spirit and witnessed the scales fall off Saul's eyes. Then, Ananias baptized him! Ananias was instrumental in one of the most faith-defining conversion miracles and transformations in history: Saul to Paul. Paul would become one of the greatest Christian missionaries and theologians of all time, writing 13 of the 27 books in the New Testament. Still, Ananias’ obedience preceded all of Paul’s miraculous ministry. You never know what God can do with one act of faithful obedience.

Action Step: Is there anything the Lord has been asking you to do that you haven’t obeyed Him on yet? What step can you take towards obedience today?