Daily Devotional for Thursday, April 20

Paul in Danger of a Beating

“The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him,” Acts 22:24.

We humans tend to be very tribal. We have political tribes, church tribes and even sin tribes. We tend to group ourselves together with others who are like us and share common interests. This is true whether the common interests are good or bad. Our tribe will tend to look sideways at others who are not part of us and not be very welcoming to strangers who want to be one of us. Another interesting fact about tribes is that if anybody attempts to leave the tribe, the retribution can be harsh and instant. If you leave my tribe, I will turn my back on you. I may even come after you with harm in mind!
It seems there was always somebody after Paul. This time the Jews were after him. Paul’s message of salvation by grace through faith was intensely disturbing to the Jews. Paul was a perceived danger to their way of life, that way being the following of the Law. Our story actually began back in Acts 21 with Paul being beset by an angry crowd. Had the Romans not intervened, Paul certainly would have been executed by that crowd.
Paul was fairly one dimensional. When set upon, Paul always did the same thing: Paul shared his testimony. Over and over again as we read of Paul’s travels we see him doing that when he was in trouble. He never fought back, and he never retaliated. He just told what he had seen and heard regarding himself. That is a great lesson for you as well. You are not here to fight the world, but to share your experience with Jesus with the world.

THOUGHT: It seems everybody wanted to harm Paul constantly. Yet, Paul kept preaching the Word. That is what we need to do also when they come after us.

Wally Fry