Continue On

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

CONTINUE ON

Acts 17:13-15

13 When the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea, they went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up. 14 The brothers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea. 15 The men who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.

NIV

What is it with these guys from Thessalonica? Couldn’t they just be satisfied they had run Paul out of their area? Now they had to come to Berea and cause trouble. It seems we will always find some that are opposed to our message about what we believe to be true, mainly because it is true. But will we encounter those who will hunt us down just so they can discredit our message? Of course, there are people today who agitate the crowds stirring them up against the message of Jesus Christ. They are stirring up the crowd when they pour out their propaganda about evolution, animal rights, gay rights, hate speech, and pro-choice. These are all anti-God sentiments. Instead, after they run after us from town to town as they had to do in Paul’s time, they now have the use of multi-media and social networks to spew their hatred for the truth of God and stir up support for their cause from the low information portion of society. Those ideologies entrap and ensnare their followers with false information which sounds good but has no truth. God sets people free, the truth actually sets people free from the bondage of sin which causes death, a spiritual death. Yet we will always have people who will hate the truth so much they will try any tactic to shut the truth up. There may be someday when we will actually be hunted down, and if that happens, we need to be prepared to take our stand against the forces of evil. Yes, Paul escaped the crowds, to preach another day, but in fact, he was standing up for God. The message would reach many more people and Jesus will build his church, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it. As Paul was a messenger, so we are as well. We are all called to take our stand. The world might try to discredit our message, but we will continue on.