One Of Those Days
Read Acts 14:8-28.
"Some days you're the bug, and other days you're the windshield."
Have you ever felt like that? Paul and Barnabas are having a day like that near the end of their first missionary journey in Acts 14. One moment they are being worshipped like gods—in fact, the crowd insists on sacrificing to them, an act of devotion that Paul refuses—and the next moment, the same crowd is trying to stone Paul, to get rid of him for good.
Sound familiar? There was this other guy named Jesus, who one day was having people sing "Hosanna" to him, and a few days later heard the crowd cry out, "Crucify Him!" Some scholars like to excuse the crowd and say it was a different crowd on Sunday than on Friday, but that sort of dismisses the way crowds operate. It seems easier to sway a crowd than an individual. People get swept up in things they never would if they were by themselves. I can very easily believe that the same crowd that said, "Hosanna," would later say, "Crucify." The same crowd that worships Paul later tries to kill him. How quickly we abandon our gods!
Some days you're the bug, and other days you're the windshield.
A bit later in the passage, presumably after he's recovered from nearly dying, Paul acknowledges a part of his calling: "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God" (14:22). In other words, life here is not promised to be easy. There will be suffering. There will be hardships. There will be times when you're the bug on the windshield. It's not easy to follow Jesus, but it's good. You don't find Paul abandoning the mission because of this, um, setback. I think a good stoning, being left for dead by people who actually intended to kill you, would be enough to get me looking for another job. But Paul was possessed by a call, and even suffering could not deter him from pursuing and fulfilling that call.
What about you (and when I say "you," I'm including myself in that question)? Is your relationship with Jesus something you'll pursue no matter how badly it hurts? If they are praising you one moment and cursing you the next, will you still answer the call? If death looms, will your one holy passion be Jesus?
"Some days you're the bug, and other days you're the windshield."
Have you ever felt like that? Paul and Barnabas are having a day like that near the end of their first missionary journey in Acts 14. One moment they are being worshipped like gods—in fact, the crowd insists on sacrificing to them, an act of devotion that Paul refuses—and the next moment, the same crowd is trying to stone Paul, to get rid of him for good.
Sound familiar? There was this other guy named Jesus, who one day was having people sing "Hosanna" to him, and a few days later heard the crowd cry out, "Crucify Him!" Some scholars like to excuse the crowd and say it was a different crowd on Sunday than on Friday, but that sort of dismisses the way crowds operate. It seems easier to sway a crowd than an individual. People get swept up in things they never would if they were by themselves. I can very easily believe that the same crowd that said, "Hosanna," would later say, "Crucify." The same crowd that worships Paul later tries to kill him. How quickly we abandon our gods!
Some days you're the bug, and other days you're the windshield.
A bit later in the passage, presumably after he's recovered from nearly dying, Paul acknowledges a part of his calling: "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God" (14:22). In other words, life here is not promised to be easy. There will be suffering. There will be hardships. There will be times when you're the bug on the windshield. It's not easy to follow Jesus, but it's good. You don't find Paul abandoning the mission because of this, um, setback. I think a good stoning, being left for dead by people who actually intended to kill you, would be enough to get me looking for another job. But Paul was possessed by a call, and even suffering could not deter him from pursuing and fulfilling that call.
What about you (and when I say "you," I'm including myself in that question)? Is your relationship with Jesus something you'll pursue no matter how badly it hurts? If they are praising you one moment and cursing you the next, will you still answer the call? If death looms, will your one holy passion be Jesus?
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