Speaking Boldly for The Lord

 Meditations on The Acts of the Apostles

 March 8, 2021

Speaking Boldly for The Lord

But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the other Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.

Acts 14:2

Read: Acts 14:1-7 

A wife put up a plaque in the hallway with the inscribed words: prayer changes things. When her husband came home he took it down. She was stunned and inquired why, "Don't you like prayer?" He replied, "I like prayer, I don't like change!" That explains the jealousy and resistance Paul encountered from many of the Jews, but their resistance to change was deeply rooted in their heritage.

The Jews believed that God was going to establish His Kingdom in the ‘age to come’ where everything would be made right, and truth and justice would flourish. This would not be some spiritual experience above and beyond life on earth; it would be new life on the earth as the paradise God intended. The Jews longed for the coming of this age. They believed by keeping themselves pure and separated from the Gentiles they would inherit this age to come.

Into this longing, Paul and the Apostles came announcing that this age to come began on Easter Sunday. God’s promise has been fulfilled in Jesus the Messiah. God has opened the doors of this age, His Kingdom, to everyone. Yes, even the Gentiles, who the Jews think of as defiled, are invited to come in, just as they are.

The Jews could not see that their heritage got off track from God’s intended purpose for His people. God was using Paul to make a mid-course correction. The Jews had to decide what they wanted the most: do they want God; or do they want their notion of what the age to come should be like.

My Takeaway: This brief story of Paul and Barnabas in Iconium serves as a reminder to me to always guard the priority of my life. Every day, church, denomination, country, family and friends vie for priority in my life. Because my life belongs to God, knowing Him, and doing His will is my priority.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2021 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.