Friday,
January 10, 2020
Now there was a believer in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, calling, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord!” he replied. The Lord said, “Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now. I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying hands on him so he can see again.” “But Lord,” exclaimed Ananias, “I’ve heard many people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers in Jerusalem! And he is authorized by the leading priests to arrest everyone who calls upon your name.” But the Lord said, “Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel. And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake.” So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Instantly something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized. Afterward he ate some food and regained his strength. Acts 9:10-19
Ananias was a believer, and God instructed
him to go help Saul, the one who was seeking to destroy the church, putting
believers in jail to rot; sometimes having them killed. Saul had just become a believer, and Ananias’
mission was to go start the process of informing Saul just how much he was
going to suffer as God’s servant. Some
days it just doesn’t seem worthwhile to get out of bed!
As a rule, you meet nice people at church;
they are doing nice things and have a smile for you. It’s not hard to understand why the thought develops
that life as a Christian disciple is easy; why would all those people be
smiling unless it was so? The problem
with this thinking is that life is not easy, no matter what your circumstances –
wealthy, poor, healthy, sickly, tall, short, skinny, fat, wise, simple, race, gender,
sexual orientation, location, opportunities, or any other twist or quirk of
nature, the common thread of every life is that, sometimes, it is a really hard
rocky road! Just ask Ananias and Saul!
There are reasons we fall into the trap of
developing a false view of life. It’s
usually expressed in the form of lament, such as: oh, life for him/her is so easy; I wish
I had their life; I deserve happiness. Money,
sex, freedom from responsibility, a better hairstyle and complexion (or
whatever…just fill in the blank) …THAT would do it for me!
There are at least two reasons we all long
for that to be true:
#1. Self-delusion
We want an easy life, and so we hunt for
signs of where that might happen for us.
Now, it’s a natural tendency to want better than we have. When it becomes an obsession, we are prone to
accept the self-lie that we deserve whatever makes us happy. Theologically that is the worst kind of lie,
because it makes us in charge of our life, calling the shots, captain of our
ship, master of our fate. And that
places us squarely in opposition to reality; it is God who is sovereign. God is our Creator and, as such, we worship
Him, not our plans and desires!
#2. Preachers.
There are many preachers whose message
tends to support the self-happiness delusion over the rocky road reality. A simple check of the most popular media
megachurch moguls unveils the base of the message constantly – here’s how
to manipulate the circumstances to get what you want from God. It’s called many things, but the
prosperity Gospel (an oxymoron if ever one existed, considering Jesus said blessed
are the poor) is a life pathway to serve self, not follow Jesus. Preachers that feed this poison to God’s
people will suffer God’s judgment!
Life’s pathway choices: delusion
or discipleship.
The road will be rocky either way, but I’d rather follow the One who
laid out the road in the first place.
Go to VIDEO
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Title Image: Rocky Road Devotion (permission)
Unless noted,
Scripture quoted from The
New Living Translation©
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