The Story Isn’t Finished
Scripture:
“But Ananias answered, ‘Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to Your saints at Jerusalem…’ But the Lord said to him, ‘Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine…’” — Acts 9:13–15 (ESV)
Think:
I don’t think Ananias was arguing with Jesus.
I think he was trying to protect the Church.
When the Lord told him to go to Saul, every instinct in his body must have screamed, No.
“Lord…I’ve heard about this man.”
Of course he had.
Everyone had.
Saul’s reputation had traveled faster than he had. Wherever his name was spoken, fear followed. Mothers prayed their children would never meet him. Believers locked their doors because of him. Churches whispered stories about the man who hunted followers of Jesus from city to city.
And now Jesus was asking Ananias to walk straight toward him.
Can you imagine the questions racing through his mind?
“Lord…what if this is a trap? What if he hasn’t really changed? What if I walk into that house and never walk back out?”
I love that Scripture doesn’t hide Ananias’ fear.
Faith is not pretending you’re unafraid.
Faith is choosing to trust Jesus when every reason says you shouldn’t.
Then Jesus says something that changes the entire story.
“Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine.”
Notice what Jesus doesn’t say.
He doesn’t defend Saul’s past.
He doesn’t explain away the suffering Saul caused.
He doesn’t ask Ananias to pretend the pain wasn’t real.
Instead, Jesus speaks about Saul from the perspective of redemption.
Ananias saw a persecutor.
Jesus saw a preacher.
Ananias saw a man stained by yesterday.
Jesus saw a man sent for tomorrow.
Ananias saw everything Saul had been.
Jesus saw everything grace would make him.
Isn’t that just like our Lord?
We are so quick to freeze people in the worst chapter of their lives.
We remember the addiction.
The affair.
The abortion.
The betrayal.
The anger.
The prison sentence.
The words they can never take back.
We quietly decide, “That’s who they are.”
Jesus never ignores those chapters.
He simply refuses to believe they are the last ones.
Because grace is always writing another page.
I wonder how many times people looked at Saul and thought, There’s no hope for him.
Yet while everyone else was remembering what Saul had done, Jesus was thinking about what Saul would become.
That gives me hope.
Not just for the people I’m praying for.
For me.
Because there are chapters of my own life I wish had never been written. Moments I would erase if I could. Failures that still whisper lies when I’m quiet enough to hear them.
But Jesus does not introduce me by my worst day.
He calls me by His grace.
Perhaps that’s why He tells Ananias, “He is a chosen instrument of Mine.”
Not, “He will be if he proves himself.”
Not, “He might become one someday.”
Before Saul had preached a sermon…
Before he had planted a church…
Before he had written a single letter…
Jesus already called him Mine.
That is the miracle of grace.
God doesn’t wait until our lives are impressive to claim us.
He claims us…
Then He begins the lifelong work of transforming us.
Maybe there’s someone you’ve quietly stopped believing God can change.
Or maybe that someone is you.
Don’t close the book on a story that Jesus is still writing.
Because the Author has a way of turning persecutors into preachers…
…and sinners into saints.
Application:
Is there someone you’ve defined by their worst chapter—including yourself? Ask God to give you His eyes today. Grace never excuses sin, but it never allows sin to have the final word.
Prayer:
Father, thank You that You never abandoned my story to my worst moments. Thank You for seeing not only who I was, but who Your grace is making me to be. Give me eyes to believe that no one is beyond the reach of Your redeeming love. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
