Be Ready

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

BE READY

Acts 21:10-14

10 After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11 Coming over to us, he took Paul's belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, "The Holy Spirit says, 'In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.'" 12 When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. 13 Then Paul answered, "Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." 14 When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, "The Lord's will be done."

NIV

We dealt with the conversation of Agabus already, but thought it would be a good idea to include this as we need to consider the response of the people and of Paul to what Agabus had prophesied. There are two completely different responses in that the people did not want Paul to have to contend with what was going to happen if he went to Jerusalem and then Paul’s. All these people were believers and yet they wanted Paul to avoid what was intended for him, by the Spirit, to experience. It is because of what Paul was going to experience he would be able to write many of the letters we have today. It be because Paul experienced what he did, we have life lessons to learn that we would not have had. But the other believers were like most of us, wanting to avoid, both for themselves, and for others, uncomfortable situations. But Paul only wanted to accomplish the task the Spirit had set out for him. So we have the same opportunity to have one of those two attitudes toward our life. We can desire to avoid or we can desire to comply. This is not to say the Spirit will ask us to endure hardship as he did with Paul, but the point is we need to follow the leading of the Spirit regardless of the circumstances he leads us to or rather through. He will not only lead us to an experience, but he will not ever forsake us, so he will lead us through it as well. Now it could be the Spirit might lead us through some wonderful experiences as well as some times of hardships, but the Spirit will always lead us and we should always be ready to fellow. These believers that wanted Paul not to go, simply did not have the mind of Christ. That might be a harsh comment, even critical but the fact is they were not spiritually where they should have been, as Paul was. His heart was breaking not because they were weeping for him, but because he knew they were spiritually weak and did not understand the importance or the gravity of the situation in that Paul was being lead of the Spirit and he was ready, as always, to follow. He had taught them all about that lifestyle, and here he saw how much they had not learned and thus his heart was breaking, not for himself but for them. One of our callings is to encourage one another and to say that which builds each other up. They were not doing that at all, but Paul continued to teach them in his response to them. He told them he was ready to not only be bound, but to die for the name of Jesus. Should our attitude be like those people, or like Paul? We know that answer and we need to be like Paul and be ready.