My scripture journal entry: But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. (Acts 13:9-11 ESV) There seems to be this unwritten rule that Christians are supposed to be wimps who, when confronted by opposition, are supposed to role over on their backs and surrender to whatever demands or accusations are thrown their way. This perception reminds me of my little male chihuahua, if you stomp your foot at him he will tuck tail and run for his life as if you beat him with a stick, he may bark and growl like he is serious, but the truth is, he has no real backbone to stand and fight. I dont think that is what we are called to do, and here we see Paul take a strong stand in defense of the gospel message going forth. Its hard to imagine many Christians today responding the way Paul did; he laid out a harsh character evaluation, ordered him to stop, and then called forth the judgment of God. I suspect most of us would be fretting over whether or not we might hurt someones feelings. Perhaps it is time for us to be willing to stand for the truth, stand in defense of the gospel, and stop allowing the enemies of the Kingdom of God to claim territory unabated. We are the ambassadors of the King of Kings, and we ought to represent him well, and defend what is his. We dont want to be harsh and confrontative just because we can, but the things of God are worth defending from the enemies that seek to push us into the corner.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Oct 2013 14:23:58 +0000