Settled

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

SETTLED

Acts 23:23-30

23 Then he called two of his centurions and ordered them, "Get ready a detachment of two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go to Caesarea at nine tonight. 24 Provide mounts for Paul so that he may be taken safely to Governor Felix." 25 He wrote a letter as follows:

26 Claudius Lysias,

To His Excellency, Governor Felix:

Greetings.

27 This man was seized by the Jews and they were about to kill him, but I came with my troops and rescued him, for I had learned that he is a Roman citizen. 28 I wanted to know why they were accusing him, so I brought him to their Sanhedrin. 29 I found that the accusation had to do with questions about their law, but there was no charge against him that deserved death or imprisonment. 30 When I was informed of a plot to be carried out against the man, I sent him to you at once. I also ordered his accusers to present to you their case against him.

NIV

The Commander is basically washing his hands of the situation, but at the same time assuring that Paul, a fellow Roman citizen is not harmed by the Jews. He is doing his job, that is for sure, but at the same time passing the buck so to speak. Rather than deal with the confrontation head on, he slips Paul away in the middle of the night without anyone knowing of it. Now perhaps he is doing the right thing by sending the situation up line, to his superior, the man who should be the judge of such matters. At first glance this portion of scripture seems to be just facts that happened with communication between the commander and the Governor, but there is this truth about confrontations. We will see that even Felix never gets to the end result, even after several years of judging the case. The confrontation at this point is not being settled. This could be our lesson. We cannot or should not allow any confrontation, any disagreements or arguments go unsettled. It does not do anyone any good to walk away from a dispute. Perhaps we might actually be in the same proximity as the one we have a dispute with, but we can steal away in the middle of the night, so to speak, emotionally or mentally, just shutting down, refusing to bring the confrontation to an end, solving matters once and for all. Had Felix made a judgment it would have been the law of the land and all would have had to adhere or be subject to arrest. But he left it unjudged and thus the dispute between the Jews and Paul was never settled. Of course the Jews were somewhat out of control going to the extreme of plotting murder. We may never get that uncontrolled but we can certainly become so unchristian-like in our thinking or emotional state over a dispute. This is why it is imperative we make every effort to live in peace with all men. If a dispute arises we need to confront it head on, and resolve it quickly so that we can continue to live as Christ intends us to. This is especially true within the realm of families as we have been instructed not to let the sun set on our anger, or if there is a dispute within a family it must be settled completely before going to bed. Fortunately there is forgiveness of sin, as we may well have been guilty of this situation all too often. But the lesson has been reminded and we should endeavor to work towards that desired life. Confront and settle it, and go on.