Over and over again, I’m overwhelmed, amazed, shocked…all of it when I see how Paul (and his New Testament contemporaries) handled adversity. In Acts 21, Paul is “rescued” from death at the hands of an angry mob by the Roman Tribune. Instead of demanding his rights as a citizen to have those who’d beaten him arrested and punished, Paul gasps as he’s being taken into the barracks, “Please let me speak to the people.” And what comes next is yet another moment of Paul, an ambassador of Christ, a minister of reconciliation, using the moment to be Christ instead of being out for justification or vindication.
As I wrestled with this text this week with 13 university students, 3 teams who we are sending out for the next four weeks, God tugged at my heart about how I respond to inconvenience or even outright hardship. As the church was being persecuted by Saul in Acts 8, we read in verse 4 that as they were scattered, they preached the Word wherever they went.
What will you choose in that moment wherein you are facing inconvenience, hardship, or even persecution? Will you seize the moment for the Kingdom or will you demand your own rights? It’s a struggle, for sure. I’ll be praying that we, like Paul and so many other believers, will lift our voices and use our moment for Christ’s fame and kingdom.