WHAT COMES AROUND, GOES AROUND

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city.

The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.

Acts 14:19-20

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Paul and Barnabas had gained great popularity in Lystra after Paul had delivered a strong message about Jesus which led to a man, who had been lame from birth, being healed because of his newfound faith in the Lord. Unfortunately, the praise heaped on them was misdirected as they believed the two apostles were actually representations of Greek gods and therefore worthy of sacrifices. You’ll recall how Paul and Barnabas rebuked the people, proclaiming themselves as human beings just like the Lycaonian people who were worshiping them.

Outside of this case of mistaken identity, all seemed well in Lystra, that is until some Jews from Antioch and Iconium arrived. The scriptures tell us the Jews won the crowd over and then turned them against Paul. They “dragged him outside the city” and stoned him until he was near death.

As this was going on, I wonder what was going through Paul’s mind. I am really interested as to whether he reminisced to an event he had been involved earlier when he was known as Saul.

You remember what happened, right?

For before Paul became an apostle for the cause of Jesus, he was Saul, a passionate and dangerous persecutor of Christians. He took pleasure in harming others and even killing them with the goal of eradicating Christianity. His work was sanctioned and supported by the Jewish religious authorities, the ones who had placed a new Christian servant named Stephen on trial.

You’ll remember that Stephen, dedicated to a fault for the cause of Jesus, was stoned to death and it was Saul who presided over the execution. Shortly thereafter, while on his way to carry out persecution in the city of Damascus, Saul was confronted and blinded by Jesus. Three days later, a man named Ananias came into Damascus, visited Saul, and touched his eyes. Immediately, Saul regained his sight and the rest would be history. He committed himself to follow and serve Jesus who had led him to this very time and place in Lystra where he now found himself under assault by stoning.

I think the saying goes like this, “What goes around, comes around.”

What made Paul’s experience different?

Well, he lived to tell about it. The Lord still had much for him to do.

The people stoning Paul had believed they had done him in but we read that he “got up and went back into the city” after he was surrounded by a group of disciples. The next day, he left the city and traveled to Derbe with Barnabas, continuing his mission but once again reminded of the perils of being a Christian, perils he once initiated before finding himself on the receiving end.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com