God had told Ananias that He had a mission for Saul. This enabled Ananias to see through God’s eyes. Ananias knew of Saul’s reputation for persecuting Christians and was understandably afraid of him. But Ananias’ faith was stronger than his fear, and he obeyed God’s instructions.
Acts 9: 17 So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”[1]
Ananias knew that Saul’s original intention was to come and imprison the believers, including himself. Ananias offers significant insight by greeting Saul as a brother. Saul had done nothing to prove that he had changed, but Ananias chose to see Saul not by his past but by God’s promise.
God’s Restoration
Saul couldn’t see Anaias as he arrived, but he would have sensed God’s love through the laying on of hands. Here, the power of God was working through a human. A complete transformation often involves both divine intervention and human action. Acts 9: 18 Instantly something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized. 19 Afterward he ate some food and regained his strength. [2]
God, through Ananias’s hands, restored Saul’s physical sight, but more importantly, the Holy Spirit filled him. God doesn’t just fix us, He fills us. True restoration is not merely external; the Holy Spirit empowers it. It is the Spirit who equips us for purpose, witness, and endurance. This transformation is not for individual gain, but to empower us for service in the Kingdom.
How Do We Accept the Restored?
We all need God’s restoration as we are all sinners. But it is easy to let someone’s past color our opinion of them. We do need discernment as we deal with others, and that is why we need to see through God’s eyes. We can ask God to show us what He sees. God sees what can be.
When God transforms someone, we must allow our perspective to change, too. The church must learn to welcome redeemed people without suspicion defining the relationship. Is there someone you struggle to see as God sees them? How can we extend grace before we see the full fruit of restoration?
God often restores people we never would expect for major tasks. N.T. Wright makes this comment about God choosing Saul to be His chosen instrument to take the Gospel to the Gentiles: “When you want to reach the pagan world, the person to do it will be a hard-line, fanatical, ultra-nationalist, super-orthodox Pharisaic Jew. And then they say that God doesn’t have a sense of humour.”[3]
To learn more, listen here:
https://podpoint.com/light-of-christ-church-podcast/transition-follows-transformation
[1-2 Tyndale House Publishers. (2015). Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Tyndale House Publishers.
[3] Wright, T. (2008). Acts for Everyone, Part 1: Chapters 1-12 (p. 145). Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.