Year 7, Day 246: Acts 13

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Acts 13 starts the ministry of Paul.  There are several very poignant themes that run through Paul’s ministry.  These themes correlate with how God works through Paul and leads us to why he is understood as one of the most influential men of Christianity.

The first theme is that Paul speaks out boldly.  We see him rise up against Elymas in the court of the proconsul.  We also see Paul speak out in the synagogue of Psidian Antioch.  Paul isn’t afraid to speak.  He isn’t afraid to tell truth.  He never really knows how people are going to react to it.  Paul speaks truth and lets the chips fall where they may.

Be careful with this thinking, though.  As we’ll see throughout Acts, Paul isn’t always received well.  Paul earns the favor of the proconsul.  Paul is chased out of Psidian Antioch.

Some human beings receive the truth well.  They like being challenged.  They enjoy growing and becoming different people.  They realize that they don’t understand everything and seek opportunities to gain experience.

Other human beings don’t enjoy the experience.  Some human beings don’t enjoy being challenged.  Some human beings don’t enjoy growth opportunities.  Some human beings don’t mind growing, but they only want to grow in directions that they desire.  Some human beings simply aren’t open to God’s truth, they are only open to truth that agrees with their thinking.

We never know who we’ll meet until after we speak truth and see how they react.  Some people will grant us their favor much like the proconsul.  Others will hear our words and try to drum us out of town like the Jews in Psidian Antioch.  We don’t know who is who until they encounter truth and react to it.  Then we see their true colors.

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