Our Daily Bread -- Start from Here!

June 6, 2015

Read: Acts 9:1-9
Bible in a Year: 2 Chronicles 25-27; John 16

Lord, what do You want me to do? —Acts 9:6

On June 6, 1944, three American officers huddled in a bombshell crater on Utah Beach in Normandy, France. Realizing the tide had carried them to the wrong place on the beach, the trio made an impromptu decision: “We’ll start the battle from right here.” They needed to move forward from a difficult starting point.

Saul found himself in a difficult place, needing to make a decision after meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-20). Suddenly, the location and direction of his life was revealed to him as a mistake, his prior life perhaps even feeling like a waste. Moving forward would be difficult and would require hard and uncomfortable work, perhaps even facing the Christian families whose lives he had torn apart. But he responded, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” (v. 6).

We often find ourselves in unexpected places, places we never planned nor wanted to be. We may be drowning in debt, inhibited by physical barriers, or suffering under the weight of sin’s consequences. Whether Christ finds us this day in a prison cell or a palace, whether He finds us broken and broke or absorbed by our own selfish desires, Scripture tells us to heed Paul’s advice to forget what lies behind and to press forward toward Christ (Phil. 3:13-14). The past is no barrier to moving forward with Him. —Randy Kilgore

Are you paralyzed by your past? Have you drifted away from Christ? Or perhaps never even met Him? Today is the day to begin anew with Christ, even if you’ve tried and failed before.

It’s not too late for a fresh start.

INSIGHT: When we read the dialogue between Saul and Jesus on the road to Damascus, we sometimes overlook the fact that Saul exercised a choice. When he realized it was Jesus talking to him, he asked a deliberate question: “[W]hat do you want me to do?” (v. 6). When walking our own Damascus road, we may need to ask the Lord the same question.

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