God's Word to the Wise

A Word to the Wise

But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; (1 Corinthians 1:27)

In the Bible, there is no mention of Ananias before his appearance in Acts 9, and there is only one brief mention of him after that (Acts 22;12). By all accounts, he was not a man who had done great things by the world’s standards. Even so, God saw a faithful heart within him and chose to use him in the conversion of the apostle Paul.

Our culture values big names, big accomplishments, and big ratings. God does not have the same preoccupations. Ananias, like most of us, was an average Joe; he simply had an ear open to God’s voice and a will obedient to His command. This resulted in a life sacrificed for usefulness in God’s service. And on this day, it meant that he was the first to tangibly extend God’s love and grace to Saul as he reached out and called him “brother” (Acts 9:17). And so, though he may be a small character in the Bible, there is much you and I can learn from him. You may receive little to no recognition for your faithfulness to Christ in this life. You may take risks and make sacrifices in service to Him and feel that not much changes and no one notices. But far better than anything this world can give, you can look forward to hearing God’s “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21) as you enter the kingdom of heaven. No good work done in His service is ever wasted. He weaves it all into the great story of salvation.