Acts 14:1-7
English Standard Version (ESV)
14 Now
at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a
way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. 2 But
the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against
the brothers.[a] 3 So they remained for a
long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his
grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. 4 But
the people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews and some with the
apostles. 5 When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews,
with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone them, 6 they
learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the
surrounding country, 7 and there they continued to preach the
gospel.
As I read this
several thoughts came to my mind. The
first of which is opposition. We have
opposition all around us in this world.
People view life and even God in so many ways. Some people believe they are their own god,
while others make up some preconceived notion of who he is. Others, myself included, realize that God is
greater than my imagination but yet He is also very real. He is my Judge, my Father, my Redeemer, and
most certainly my Friend. He loves me
more than love itself. Yet He is my
Judge, the One who knows my true heart better than I know it myself. I believe you are either for God or against
God, there is no riding the fence on this matter. Although God is Love He is also our Maker,
the Creator of this world and worthy of our praise and honor.
Yet, I was on
YouTube the other day and I saw comments on a video that were so disturbing to
me. Christ haters were telling parents how
they should raise their children. There
were people commenting that we should not brainwash our children to believe in
a God. An atheist thought it was quite
ridiculous to use a science experiment to show how God loves us and takes our
sins away through Jesus Christ. First of
all, if he is an atheist why does it really matter what others teach. If he truly does not believe there is a God
what harm is it to teach that there is.
If there is a God (which there is) then keeping this from our children
is quite devastating. There were other
such comments that made me cringe. I
feel so bad for those who have not found faith in the Lord. They really don’t know what they are talking
about and do not understand the freedom found in knowing Him, whom saves
us. I can’t imagine a life without Him. I thank God that I had parents that shared
their faith with me. As we know, even
though children may be taught these truths, it is their decision to accept them
or reject them, this is not brainwashing.
The last thing I
saw in this scripture was that it is okay to run, to move on, but it is not
okay to stop preaching the Gospel. We
have seen twice now how Paul and Barnabus left the city in which they were in
because of disputes. Yet, that did not
keep them from spreading the Gospel. If
they had given up others would have missed out on the opportunity to know the
Savior. That is the same for us; we must
never stop proclaiming the Gospel of Christ.
We may move on because some will refuse to believe but we must continue
to share.
As we seek Him,
we need to remember there will always be opposition to His Word. There will always be doubters and haters, but
when you know the truth there is no way to keep it inside. Share the Word of the Lord and be blessed today.
Seeking Him with
all my heart,
Sheila
A link to the
video referred to in post
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkfH8cmt5QI
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