I was reading through Acts and one
story in particular amazed me. (There are several amazing stories,
but I would like to pause with this one for the moment.) This story
is about the commitment of Paul and Barnabas on their first
missionary journey.
They started in Cyprus and
continued towards Turkey as we know it today. Now they arrived at
Antioch of Pisidia and started preaching boldly. Many people
believed and turned towards God. But soon the Jewish leaders became
jealous of their following and incited a mob to chase them out of
town. Next they went to Iconium. The same thing happened there,
many people turned towards God and accepted Jesus into their lives,
but soon enough the leaders incited another mob against them and
chased them out of town. This didn't deter them though, they simply
continued further and entered the town of Lystra.
In Lystra they preached again and
even healed a man who had never been able to walk due to his
cripple feet. When the people saw this they thought that they were
gods. The people at Lystra all knew a myth about their town. The
myth said that centuries ago two gods visited their town, namely
Zeus and Hermes. They came down from 'heaven', disguised themselves
as ordinary people and went into town to see if the town's people
were hospitable or not. They were disappointed to find that no one
welcomed them, or even offered them any hospitality except for an
old couple. The legend continues to say that the gods became angry
and killed all the people in the town and rewarded the old couple.
Now when the people of the town saw Paul and Barnabas performing
these amazing miracles, they thought they were Zeus and Hermes who
had come back to test them again. None of the citizens wanted to
make the same mistake again and they rushed to bring Paul and
Barnabas all sorts of offerings and they worshipped them. Needless
to say Paul and Barnabas was appalled by this and tried to stop
them and focus their attention on Jesus instead of them.
Now here comes the interesting part
for me. It was not long after the crowd 'worshipped' them, when
some Jews from Antioch and Iconium came and stirred them up into a
murderous mob to kill Paul and Barnabas. (Sounds like the Jews
welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem with songs of praise and a week
later yelling 'Crucify Him!' Doesn't it?) Anyway, this mob dragged
Paul out of the city, stoned him and left him for dead. And what
did Paul do? He simply got up and went back into the city! And more
than that after they went to preach in Derbe they returned
to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch (where they had been chased away) to
support and encourage the believers there. Amazing.
Think about it. Imagine it was you.
You are kicked out of three towns by an angry mob, stoned in one
and left for dead, what would you do? I think I will run as far
away as I could, never ever to return! And yet here they don't run
away, no they simply went back there to preach some more. Wow. That
is absolute dedication and commitment to a cause.
Now my question is: are we as
committed? Will we tell people about the Lord and continue to tell
them about Him even if they mock us? Will we continue to stand firm
in our faith, when the 'mob' around us don't approve of it? Will we
continue to pray for a cause/someone even if we don't see a single
result for years and years? Will we dust off our clothes and simply
go back to show love to people who hate us?
We can learn a lot from the
commitment that the apostles had. There was simply no other option
in their minds. They had a job to do and they went on living and
preaching for God, even when it cost them their lives. Think about
this next time you feel like giving up.
Father, thank you for giving us the
strength to go on and on, no matter what the circumstances. Help us
to stand strong in our faith, and to never compromise. We love You
too much. In Jesus Name. Amen