Reading 28

Acts 20-23

In Acts 20-23, Paul continues his travels to see the believers. He makes his way to Jerusalem, where he is seized by angry crowds and beaten. When Roman soldiers stop the crowd, Paul seeks permission to speak to the people who had just tried to kill him. He uses the opportunity to tell the crowds how he came to Jesus. Although he must have been bruised and bloody, Paul chose to focus his attention on teaching the people. He reminded the crowd that he had been a leader, had persecuted Christians—had even been a Pharisee. The crowd listened for a time, until Paul told how he had been sent to the Gentiles to spread the good news. The people could not accept this. Their own prejudice against the Gentiles deafened them to what Paul was trying to say. In fact, the very mention of Gentiles stirred the crowd into a frenzy, until they were “shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air”—throwing a tantrum.

This passage reminded me of the times I have thrown “tantrums” with God. I listen to him up to a point, until he says something that I have a problem with, a prejudice against. Then I stop listening—refuse to listen, actually. But when I set aside the obstacle, and focus instead on what God is telling me, I often realize that the thing that most concerns me isn’t really that important. Instead, God’s “big picture” is far more important. If I focus on that, I find that I no longer need to hold on to my objections. The crowd that listened to Paul had the same problem. They were so upset that Paul brought the good news to the Gentiles that they didn’t even consider the good news. The important point wasn’t the Gentiles, it was the gospel.

It is easy in our lives to forget to take off our blinders. We become so intent on the things that are “important” to us that we can’t focus on what is truly important. But if we were to really listen to what God is saying, and set aside, even briefly, our objections and tantrums, how might our lives change? Might we also see that what God is trying to tell us is far more valuable than our own prejudices and desires?

Kerry

Reading #28 (audio)