By Rev. Steve Davis
We live in a time where people want to be famous, a celebrity. So they walk around with their phones taking selfies and videos in the hope that they will go viral if they post them on social media.
Success is measured by whether people know our name, even if only for 15 minutes. This is a far cry from the 18th century reformer Count Zinzendorf, who said, “Preach the gospel, die and be forgotten.”
Most of us will spend our lives with only a few people remembering our names. That should be enough for us. We live our lives not for our own glory, but for God’s glory. There is a man in the Scriptures that most people do not think much about. He appears as a minor character in the life of Saul of Tarsus.
His name was Ananias and he lived in Damascus. His contributions to the Kingdom of God are summarized in eight verses in one chapter of Acts, and he is mentioned in one verse in the next.
People also read…
When Paul gives his testimony, he mentions Ananias in Acts 22:12, where he says, “Ananias, a devout man according to the law, had a good report among all the Jews who lived there.” Ananias was a man of faith who loved the Word of God and had a good report among the people in the church. He prayed and was obedient. God used him to touch Paul. Then he withdrew again into anonymity.
We don’t know what else Ananias did, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that God was glorified through his life.
Although Ananias’ story is minor compared to Paul’s, we can learn a lot from him. If we remain faithful to God’s Word and prayer, if we live a life of good repute, and if we obey God, He will use us in His Kingdom, even if no one knows our name.
