Read Acts chapter 9 verses 32-43
Dorcas was dead. Dorcas! Peter knew Dorcas. Everyone in Lydda and Joppa knew Dorcas. She was a dressmaker to the poor; she had made and fitted coats, dresses and baby clothes for years. Dorcas dead? That couldn't be. God wouldn't...
But God had. Dorcas was dead. Peter found her body lying in state in her Joppa house surrounded by widows. He sent them out of the room, then he reached out to God in prayer. "Dorcas, get up," and she arose.
Peter was very clear that the power for this miracle came from God. Jesus had certainly prophesied that his disciples would do 'the same works' as him and even greater ones (John 14 v 12). As the miracle became known, many believed in the Lord.
Many believed in the Lord, too, while Dorcas lived and sewed. Many looked at her and said, "If all Christians were like that!" Her needle was the tool of her mission. Dorcas was one of the 'saints' in Joppa. Saint literally means 'holy person' but the root meaning of it is 'different'. As Christians we are 'different' because we have been chosen for the special purposes of God.
A teacher once asked his class "what is a saint?" Up went a hand. "Please sir, a saint is someone who lets the light in". The child was thinking about saints he had seen depicted in the stained glass windows of his local church, but actually his reply was far more accurate than he knew!
Questions
Do I see God through the lives of the 'saints' in my own church?
In what ways do I 'let the light in' for other people?
Prayer
Thank you, Jesus, for the light that my fellow Christians bring into my life. May your light shine out through me too.