ACTS 8: Make the most of a journey
We’re well into this journey through the Book of Acts and it’s proving to be an exciting adventure full of twists and turns. We’re reading a chapter a day and I’m providing a link to the chapter in the NIV(UK) version, but you can of course read the chapter in whatever version you like. I’ve been sharing some short reflections, but the important part is the last part: ACTION. How have you been getting on with the short daily challenges so far?
Are you up for today’s challenge?
Then let’s continue!
READ: Acts 8
REFLECTION: The stoning of Stephen acts like a catalyst. After this one act of persecution, it leads the way for other acts of persecution against the church in Jerusalem. Saul was merely an observer of Stephen’s stoning. He held the coats. But having observed, he now acts. He’s on a mission to destroy the church – a godly mission, he believes. These people with all their talk of Jesus and resurrection are blasphemers against the one true faith and they have to be stopped. They have to be silenced.
And so this one act becomes a catalyst for the dispersal of this faith in Jesus across the whole region. As the followers of Jesus scatter, they take the good news of new life in Jesus with them. The movers and shakers from neighbouring countries hear and believe and are transformed. OK, so they don’t always completely get it, like Simon’s request to buy the ability to bestow the Holy Spirit on others. They’re going to make mistakes. Things are going to get messy at times. These people are only human, after all.
But the word of God is spreading far and wide. And lives are being changed.
ACTION: Make the most of a journey
I imagine each of us will be making a journey from A to B today. It may be a long one or a very short one, on foot or by car or train or bus or bike or plane…As I’m writing this, my son is bemoaning the fact that we have a seven hour train journey ahead of us today. He’s already seeing the day as a complete write off.
But what if we see these journeys that we have to make as an opportunity? An opportunity to connect with others, to share life and kindness and truth and connection with others, those known to us and those not yet known to us.
Make today’s journeys significant to you in some way.
