“Faith Lessons From An Autobiography!”

“Faith Lessons From An Autobiography!”(Acts 22:12-16).
Unless the animals in the jungle tell their own story, the hunter’s version will always misrepresent the animals. A biography and an autobiography may be related but cannot be the same.
In telling the story of Paul’s baptism Luke writes that when Ananias came and spoke to Paul, “immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized…”(Acts 917-19).
Back in Jerusalem, some time later Paul was arrested for being the man turning Asian Jews away from their cherished Judaism. Paul asked for permission to address the crowd. He told them the story of his conversion and how he was baptized. In direct speech Paul recounted how it happened: “He said to me, ‘The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. You will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.'”
I like to juxtapose Paul’s baptism experience to that of the Ethiopian eunuch. In the case of the eunuch, when they came to some water he was the one who asked, “Look here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?…”(Acts 8:36f).
Two adult baptisms and different motivations. The Ethiopian was a foreigner yearning for the God of the Jews as he searched their scriptures. On the other hand was Paul a Jew who thought he had understood their scriptures so well that he had the right to arrest, detain or even kill those who proclaim that that same scriptures have been fulfilled by Jesus Christ. Our takeoff platforms are different and each determines our performances and outcomes.
Back to Paul: Paul told his story as he experienced it deeply from within. He was a man who thought he knew so much about God, such that he became an advocate for God. But God told him, “You know nothing about me! Allow me to lead you on the path that leads to me. More than that I have chosen you to lead other stray wanderers like you back to the Right Way.”
Dear friend, as we end the week whose teaching has been on baptism, let us keep to the importance of our baptisms with the words Paul says Ananias told him: “Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.”
Can you still remember when and how you encountered the Lord Jesus Christ? If you can remember make it a fitting autobiography that serves as an apologetic for the Faith!
Weekend prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for renewing us through baptism so that our life stories should become tools of witnessing and testimony. Amen!
Have a blessed weekend! Peace be with you!
Prayer point: Pray for committed discipleship in the Church of Christ.
Rev Babila Fochang.