August 20, 2022 Daily Dose of Discernment

Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized. (Acts 9:18)

In his conversion, Saul lost his physical ability to see. He knew through that experience that Jesus was telling him he was blind about the things of God. He thought God was an exacting and unfeeling master who could only be pleased by rigid adherence to His rules. He did not know God is love. He experienced that divine love on the road to Damascus, when Jesus called him in spite of his cruel treatment of His followers. And when Ananias, the disciple who overcame fear and hatred of him, called him brother, he knew that same divine love was in the Christians as well and he wanted to know and have it. That’s when the scales came off his eyes. Then he could really see. Because it is not pietism and religiosity that can make us see and understand, but faith working through love.