Closer Day By Day

Bible Passage:  Acts 9-10

Acts chapter 9 and chapter 10 both contains 2 very great stories in Christian history. In both stories, the hand of God acted to convert 2 persons, and these 2 persons later on brought great blessings upon the people around them.
In Chapter 9 it records how God shone the light on Saul so that he recognised that Jesus is the true God of the Jews. From a persecutor of Christ, he became a great evangelist for Christ, suffering for His name’s sake, and preaching relentlessly to Jews and Gentiles.

In Chapter 10 it records how God shown Cornelius and Peter a vision each, before bringing them together so that salvation grace can be given to the household of Cornelius, and Peter’s eyes may be opened that salvation is also gven to the Gentiles. It is also the first record of non-Jews receiving the Holy Spirit. (Samaritans are half Jews)

The case of Saul teaches us that faith without knowledge does not save. Saul was zealous for God, but he did not recognise Jesus as the Lord and treated His Way as opposing the God he worships. From young he had been taught to be perfect in the way of the law. He had used all his time to persecute the threat to his beliefs and sought all the means possible to annihilate the Way.

It is practically impossible to preach to Saul, since he was haughty and thought that he was right in his own ways. He was so sure of his way till Jesus shone the light on him, made him blind, so that in his blindness he could see all over again.

Sometimes I wonder if it is better to meet Christians who are serious in their faith, or Christians who are not so fervent. For those who are serious, it may be easier to engage in discussions about faith, but many a time, it will end up in a language debate and come to nothing of edification. On the other side, there are people who stick to their church for various reasons other than the Word of God… and it it is not so easy to take them out of their familiar zone to talk about deeper faith issues.

The case of Cornelius teaches us that it is not good enough to be a good man. He was devout; he feared God; he did charitable deeds generously; he taught his household to fear God; he prayed and even fasted! (Now how many of us really fast for our faith today?)

God had acted so that Cornelius will be able to hear the message of Christ. But he was not saved until he heard the message and responded to it. All his goodness did not save him. He is the classic example of the so-often asked question “there are non-Christians who behave even better than Christians - will they not be saved?” But he was not proud of his good deeds or his self-proclaimed faith. He was humble to listen and he also invited his family to come to listen to Peter.

“It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way”

Prov 19:2

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Eph 2:8-9