Without Hindrance

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

WITHOUT HINDRANCE

Acts 28:30-31

30 For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. 31 Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.

NIV

Paul was in Rome, and he was supposed to be a prisoner of the Roman guard, waiting for his trial before Caesar, who he appealed to because of the charges weighted against him by the Jews in Jerusalem. He first had to appear before Felix, then Festus who succeeded Felix, followed by standing before both Festus and King Agrippa. Because the situation called for it, Paul had only one recourse and that was to appeal his case to Caesar, which meant he must be taken to Rome. We followed his travels throughout the area, stopping along the way, even being shipped wrecked on the island of Malta, and how he was able to heal all that were sick. It is interesting that Paul was allowed to live in his own rented house. He was not in any cell or appeared as though he was in any imminent danger of losing his life. There is no record of the death of Paul or any of the Apostles within the New Testament. Anything regarding the end of Paul’s life would be pure speculation. However, there is speculation that Paul died around 64CE around the time when Nero reigned and there was a great fire in Rome after much persecution of Christians. Some believe Paul was eventually beheaded by Nero. However, we end the record of the Apostles with Paul having the freedom to welcome all who came to see him. We also note that he Boldly and without hindrance preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ. We take our cue from that very idea. We can welcome anyone who comes to see us. We can visit with anyone anywhere we would like. We can freely travel without hindrance and generally live in peace at least here in our great land of the free and home of the brave. What we question of ourselves, first, is do we boldly without hindrance preach the kingdom of God? Then we must ask, what does preaching the Kingdom of God look like? It might take a whole book to fully describe this kingdom of God, but in a nutshell, we would have to believe this kingdom is the spiritual realm over which God reigns as king, which includes the fulfillment of God’s will on earth. This would mean that because Jesus said the kingdom of God is near, he said the kingdom of God is in us, and there are so many parables that Jesus taught about the Kingdom that again, it would take a whole book to explore every reference to the Kingdom of God. However, do we preach about this reign of God in our lives? Do we preach about how he reigns over all the earth? Do we preach the fact that anyone can enter this kingdom through faith in Jesus Christ? Do we preach that even though a person is a sinner, that is living a life of sin, committed to self-fulfillment, self-gratification and pleasures, they are still under the reign of God, and will one day have to stand before him and be judged according to their refusal to accept Jesus and live their sinful lives? Do we preach free salvation through faith in Jesus? Maybe we just think people will come to see us because we look like nice people. Maybe we think they will know all about Jesus and the Kingdom of God just by looking at us. But that is not what Paul did, he spoke up, and all he talked about was the Kingdom of God. Then we must also ask ourselves if we teach everything about Jesus Christ? Do we tell people all about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus? Do we teach people about all that Jesus did and spoke? We certainly have the freedom to do all that anytime and anyplace we are, without any hindrance.