21They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, 22strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God," they said.
What was so moving to me in today's reading is after having been stoned and left for dead, Paul just picks himself back up and keeps on going. THEN they return to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch where they were chased out of, threatened and eventually stoned and left for dead to strengthen and encourage the disciples in those cities.
God shows us through their journey what it looks like to follow and live for Christ. On one hand I am moved at the beauty of what true faith looks like but on the other hand am ashamed at how small my faith can be when discouraged at the smallest most trivial things. Need to pray for a stronger faith!
4 comments:
Their journey reminds me of the testimonies from VOM (voice of the martyrs). Sometimes for me, i forget that there are things like that going on around the world. Our fellow brothers and sisters tortured, murdered, and in hiding. I'm going to try and remember to lift up a prayer for Christians around the world since that is the only thing i can do.
Hope you guys are having a blessing weeek!
thanks for your reflection Christine :)
i'm sure the hardships that we face individually are so different, yet we all together face hardships in our lives. i'm learning more and more that God really wants to bring me to my knees and pray. He desires for me to come to Him first rather than anyone or anything else. i also see how much God truly loves me. through these hardships, God is really revealing and focusing a lot of things about myself rather than the hardship. it's amazing to see how He is working in my life even when life gets hard..
persevere everyone!
thanks christine for your insight. this exhortation from paul and barnabas is precious and something i need to remind myself of every day--to "remain true to the faith". i think paul knew that it is when we face hardships that we are most tempted to be "faithless" and put our hope in more "tangible" or "viable" solutions. may God "who is able to keep us from falling" keep us "true to the faith" whatever we are going through.
Thank you, Christine.
I can't help but wonder and see Paul as a super-soldier for Christ. After all that pain and torture, he still persevered for Christ and God's kingdom. And there are people out there now who do the same thing. It kind of embarrassing when I look at myself in my comfortable home and luxuries and complain about my "hardships". It's kind of like when you see a person crying about a paper-cut in front a beaten, broken man. It makes me want to shut up my cries and tells me to lend a hand to the broken and suffering.
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