1Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest 2and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"
5"Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked.

"I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he replied. 6"Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."

7The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

10In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, "Ananias!"
"Yes, Lord," he answered.

11The Lord told him, "Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight."

13"Lord," Ananias answered, "I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. 14And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name."

15But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. 16I will show him how much he must suffer for my name."

17Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit." 18Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

The Paul Promblem

I have always been jealous of people who have a dramatic conversion story. Some people, like the apostle Paul, have a clear “before and after” testimony of how Jesus Christ has made a difference in their lives.
The apostle Paul, known as Saul in this story, did not start out as a fan of Jesus. He thought Jesus and his followers were heretics that needed to be run out of town. But after Jesus appeared to Paul, everything changed. When Ananias put his hands on Paul’s eyes, a whole new world opened for Paul. Suddenly, Paul saw grace. He saw freedom. He saw forgiveness. He saw a whole world of people who needed the gospel.
Paul’s new faith in Christ sent his life in a brand new direction. Instead of being an enemy of Jesus, he was an envoy for Jesus. He told crowds of people about the gospel. He wrote most of our New Testament. He was a new man. Paul knew what a difference it made in his life to be a Christian.
It's not necessarily so clear to most of us who grew up in church. Asking us what difference being a Christian makes in our lives is like asking us what it means to us to be able to eat three meals a day. Christian faith is that natural to many of us. Trying to talk about it is difficult because there's not a definitive before and after. It's been with us all our lives. Most of us can't remember the first time we knew God loved us. We can't recall the first time we heard about Jesus. We've always known about baby Jesus in the manger. The smell of Easter lilies isn't just a beautiful smell in the florist shop. It's the holy smell of Easter morning, our hands tucked into our Dad's hands, grinning up at Mom in her beautiful new dress. It’s hard to articulate what we've always been, what we've always known.
Those of us who have grown up in church may feel somewhat inferior to people like Paul who have a dramatic testimony to tell. It makes sense that we rarely share what our faith means to us. We don't know what we would say! We have the “Paul Problem.” We think that we have to have a story like Paul’s to have a “real” testimony. We think to be able to tell someone about our faith, we need a riveting “I was lost, but now I’m found” kind of tale to tell. Since we don’t have a powerful before and after story, we think we don’t have a faith story at all! So we clam up about our faith. We don’t say anything.
Even religious “professionals” have a hard time with this. In Unbinding your Heart, Martha Grace Reese writes about a group of pastors she took on a retreat. She asked these pastors what difference being a Christian made to them. She says it was extremely, painfully quiet for a l-o-n-g time. Just silence for a very l-o-n-g time. Finally, one pastor said, hesitantly, "Because it makes me a better person ???"
Surely there’s more we can say than that! But putting words to our faith is hard for many of us. Would you use your imagination with me? Imagine that you do not go to church on Sundays. Ever. Imagine that you do not know any hymns or Christian songs. Imagine that you do not know any Scripture. You don’t know even the simplest Bible stories.
Imagine that you are not sure if God hears you when you pray, or what words you should use to pray. Imagine that you don’t know who to call to pray for you. Imagine that you don't know how God feels towards you. What if you didn’t have a church family? What if you didn’t even know that God exists? Imagine.
Now I ask you, What does being a Christian mean to you?

Once we get clear about what being a Christian means to us, it's more natural to share our faith with others. We can tell our friends who don’t go to church about our faith because we know what it means to us. Think of our motivation for sharing our faith like filling up a pitcher.

Many Christians are highly motivated to share their faith because they believe you must be a Christian to go to heaven. But surely this isn’t the only motivation for sharing our faith. Going to heaven is a big motivation for being a Christian, but it does not have to be our only one. As one new Christian said, “Okay, my soul is saved for when I die, but what do I do about my life now?”
“I have comfort from my church.”
“I feel a purpose in my life.”
“I get direction from the Bible.”
“I don't ever feel alone.”
“I have hope that everything will turn out alright one day.”
“I am a part of God’s work in the world.” All of these fill us up so that we are overflowing We are motivated to share with others because we know what a difference Jesus Christ makes in our own lives, right here and right now!
There are a whole lot of people living in various kinds of hell right here on earth. People like Saul, who had just lost his eyesight. He had been sitting in total darkness for three days. He is so distraught he can't eat or drink. He's probably wondering if God was about to zap him for rejecting Jesus and his followers.
Meanwhile, Jesus is working on a guy named Ananias. Ananias was a reluctant evangelist if there ever was one. He had every right to be. Saul was the last person he would have ever tried to tell about Jesus. Saul had been a part of the killing of the first Christian martyr. Christians were running scared because Saul was breathing threats against them. Saul was an unlikely candidate for evangelism.
So were the prostitutes that loitered on the corner beside a church building in Florida. Most people in the congregation were upper-middle class, African-Americans who had been in church all their lives. They were not happy that the neighborhood was changing. They were really not happy about the prostitution that was creeping into their parking lot. They grumbled over the cigarette butts by the sanctuary steps. They worried about the “bad P.R.” the church was getting. It never would have occurred to anyone that the women hanging out on the corners were candidates for evangelism. Candidates for jail, yes, but not candidates for evangelism! Not in their church!
But one day, a faithful church member, a retired school teacher, left choir practice on a Wednesday. She saw one of the prostitutes, leaning against a lamppost. Singing. Right by the member’s parked Camry. She felt pushed by the Spirit?she couldn’t find other words for it?to go talk to this woman in the pink leather hot pants.
“Hi. My name is Mary. I was just singing with my choir in there. You have a beautiful voice.”
“Yeah, I love singin’,” the young woman mumbled. “I’m Sheena.”
“Sheena, you ought to be singing for the Lord ?you want to come to sing with me in my choir?” That sweet church member almost fainted as she heard the words come out of her mouth! But Sheena finally said yes. She showed up on the corner the next Wednesday before choir practice. Mary took her in. Sheena did have a beautiful voice. With the encouragement of the church, with tutoring from Mary, her dear new, retired school teacher friend, Sheena completed high school. She went to college! She finished medical school. Now, that former prostitute runs a medical clinic. Out of her church.
What motivated Mary to talk to Sheena? What possessed her to go into that prostitute's personal hell and walk her out? Maybe it was what motivated Ananias to go talk to Saul. We don’t know anything about Ananias’ conversion story. Maybe he led a pretty ordinary existence up to this point. Maybe, like us, he didn’t have a dramatic story to tell about his faith. At least, not until now! The Lord Jesus appears to Ananias in a vision and tells him to go visit Saul. This is a powerful moment of truth for Ananias. Will he go talk to Paul? Why would he? Look at the ninth chapter of Acts, the 15th verse.
Why does Ananias go talk to Paul about Jesus? First, Jesus told him to go. Obedience to Christ is a major motivation. Yet, I hate to admit it, I sometimes need more than that. Just because I know I should do something doesn’t mean I will.
Look at the 15th verse again. Jesus gives Ananias another motivation. Something besides “because I said so.” Jesus says, "Saul is an instrument I have chosen." Jesus had plans for Saul. Jesus needed Saul for the ministry of God. And Jesus needed Ananias to reach Saul.
Ananias gets to be a part of what God is doing in the world. He is a key player in God’s plan to get the gospel out. He gets to be the domino that tips another person into God’s love. He gets to be the hands of God that heal someone’s pain. He gets to be the light that shines on Saul’s dim path. He gets to do something for God that only he can do. He gets to be a part of God’s redemption of the world.
Now, that’s some motivation! Not guilt. Not, “because I should.” Not, “because it makes me a better person ???” Not some begrudging obedience. Just a sheer, passionate desire to be a part of what God wants to do in the world. Ananias had the opportunity to make a difference in the world by going where God sent him. Verse 17 tells us, “So Ananias went.”
The Paul Problem has an Ananias Answer. No extraordinary story needed. All you need is an ordinary willingness to see what God can do through you.

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