Scripture: Acts 23: 12-15 12 When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. 13 There were more than forty who made this conspiracy.14 They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul. 15 Now therefore you, along with the council, give notice to the tribune to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case more exactly. And we are ready to kill him before he comes near.”
Observation: Some people will hate what you are doing. They will be openly against it and tell everyone else about how much they are against you. They won't rest until they destroy you.
Application: Now we may not exactly experience what Paul went through with the Jews...the whole not eating and drinking until he was dead...but we can face persecution that may try and discourage us from doing the right thing. When we speak and act on God's truth in His word, we invite people to disagree and try to discourage us from the truth. The line of truth has been blurred in today's society and even individual Christians vary so widely on what they live out as truth. It can make churches look so hypocritical when it reality we are all just sinners and all fall short of God's perfection. We are separated by sin and we all need forgiveness to cover that sin.
There are always going to be people who disagree with you. There are always going to be people who will hate what you stand for. There are always going to be people who will talk about you behind your back. There are always going to be people who will try and kill your reputation (especially when you speak the truth about a sin in their lives). What we need to remember is that we need to speak the truth in love and know what the truth is by studying and knowing God's word. We can't know what devastation the truth will cause in our lives, but we know that it is what we need to do.
Prayer: Dear Lord. Give us courage to speak the truth...even when it turns people against us...even when it causes people to want to silence us. Help us to know your word so well that we can be confident in what we say. Fix our thoughts on Heaven and that what happens on earth is so temporary. Remind us of this often so that we can be confident in sharing your truths with the people who need to hear it the most. Amen.
3 comments:
I like the point of knowing God's word and being confident in it. This to me is the first thing we as Christians need to do, study God's word so we know where we need to stand. Then pray for wisdom. Many issues we deal with, like family issues, aren't always totally clear to us where we need to stand and what we need to say or not say. For this we need to know the scriptures and spend time in prayer seeking wisdom.
Psalm 63:6 says for us to meditate on Him.
Definitely an important part in being able to have both the courage and confidence required when telling others about God.
The first verses of 63 jumped out at me....
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Do we desire God this much?
Great thoughts today Pamela.
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