If you were to read the end of Acts without seeing the providence of God, I can see how you would become completely frustrated! Poor Paul is getting bounced around between people who hate him and authorities who have nothing to convict him of but won’t set him free. I want you to notice Paul’s blameless testimony. In Acts 23-24, Paul was taken to Caesarea in a magnificent display of God’s providence and was “judged” by Felix. Paul’s accusers tried to pin something to his character but to no avail. He was blameless as he had done nothing wrong. Instead of letting him go, Felix left him in prison for 2 years! In Acts 25, Festus comes on the scene and has no clue how to judge Paul because he himself was not Jewish and didn’t understand the Jewish culture. So Paul waited patiently, again, knowing that God was still in control. As a Christian, people could persecute you and say evil against you and it could be true if it’s characteristic of your life. However, Christ expects us to live a blameless life and Paul knew that and worked hard at it. Our lives should be lived in a way that would prove accusations to be false. Paul rebuked these people over and over again without saying one word of rebuke simply by having a blameless life before them giving them nothing to truly accuse him of, which pointed out that their hearts weren’t right. Friend, understand that a Christian should be a model-citizen.
Food For Thought: What did Paul do to constantly prove that any accusations against his character were false?
No comments:
Post a Comment