Followers

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

FOLLOWERS

Acts 17:32-34

32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, "We want to hear you again on this subject." 33 At that, Paul left the Council. 34 A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.

NIV

Someone coming back from the dead is difficult to comprehend for some people. We see some of the people here even sneered, This Greek word for sneered has the same connotation as the Hebrew word in Psalm one for sitting in the seat of mockers. That is giving lip service, a whole lot of meaningless words. There were people like that then and there are people like that today. But there were also those who wanted to hear more, they were touched within by the words Paul spoke about regarding Jesus. Some of them followed after Paul becoming believers. They did not actually became followers of Paul, but follower of Christ, believers in Jesus Christ as God. That Greek word for followers, actually means to clue to, or stick to, so in sense they followed after Paul, sticking to him, rather than staying put in the council. That could serve as a lesson for us in that when we find a person who preaches the truth of the word we should stick to him so we can hear more about Jesus, learning more, improving our understanding in the ways we should live. It is true that back then many people did not have God’s word and in fact could even read it if they did have it. It certainly was not like today when we have multiply translations of Bibles stacked on bookstore shelves across country. The availability of having a bible has never been better, and for the most part, we all can read it and gain the knowledge within. Even with all the availability of God’s word there are still people who sneer at it or make mouth at the word of God, as in the first psalm it refers to giving God lip service. We could make that leap here and say that we must either be followers or be giving lip service, but we cannot be both.