I Am Sending You

Acts 26: 15-18

“Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “ ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied.  ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me.  I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

The apostle Paul was devoted to God. He was lived a devoted life from the days of his youth. In fact, his persecution of the church was because of his devotion to God. He thought he knew who God was and what God required. He thought he understood God’s plan, and that understanding did not include a suffering Messiah and death on the cross. It didn’t include the church. It took Jesus revealing himself to Paul for Paul to see that he hadn’t really understood and that he didn’t really know what God’s plan was or what God required. When Paul’s eyes were opened, he turned that life of devotion over to Jesus Christ.

Paul wrote the majority of the New Testament. He had a deep understanding of Scripture, and once his understanding of God’s plan of salvation was corrected, he knew that God wanted that message preached beyond the confines of Israel to the entire world. God’s divine appointment with Paul was a turning point in the spread of the gospel to the Gentiles around the world. God revealed to Paul that salvation comes through faith in Him alone and not by works.

God has revealed this truth to us as well. We can read about it in Paul’s letters, but we also come to experience that truth for ourselves when the Holy Spirit speaks to our heart. Just as God sent Paul to share his faith, God sends us as well. Faith isn’t something to be hidden away and practiced in private. Faith is a way of life that needs to be demonstrated out in the open and shared with the world. Sometimes we allow our own fear and insecurity keep us from sharing our faith with others, but notice in this verse that God says sharing that story can turn people from the power of Satan to God and to a place where they can receive forgiveness of sins and be sanctified by faith.

What a privilege it is to know the truth of God’s plan! It’s up to us to spread it to those around us.

Father, I thank you for your awesome plan of salvation. I thank you that your vision encompasses the entire world. You want everyone to come to a saving knowledge of you. I thank you for revealing yourself to me through your Word. I thank you for my salvation. Give me the courage to live my faith out loud and to share it with those with whom I interact every day. Help me to share that faith throughout the world. In Jesus’ name, Amen.