SCRIPTURE: Acts 19:23-31
“The temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited; and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.” (Acts 19:27)
How should we respond when God and Jesus are mocked, when Bibles are dishonoured, or churches desecrated?
Or when Christians convert to other religions, or to no faith at all?
Here the crowds respond in violence, in order to defend their faith, and their ‘god’.
We need to remember that how we respond reveals what our faith, and our God, is all about.
As Christians, we need to respond in a God-like, Jesus-like way.
Do we need to defend God, or Jesus, or the Christian faith, with violence?
That does not show it’s strength, but its weakness.
The best way to defend God and Jesus is to emulate their character, their grace.
In the past, the church has been guilty of being worldly, violent God-defenders.
Today, many religious people still show weakness by defending God’s honour with violence.
We do not show the strength of our God when we act or react in violence, we make God look weak.
Let God be God, and we be His servants; He will avenge His honour when the time is right.
Jesus has shown us that the strength of God is not in the sword, but in the servant’s towel.
“Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:17-21)
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, if You could quietly endure mockery and violence, help me to do the same. Help me to honour You by loving and serving like You. Use me to overcome evil with good.
Observations/Application
Lovers of monies but not God. Their god is in their pockets and they play upon the ‘stuperstitions’ of religious trinkets. Gods formed by human hands. Unreal and false religion – placing their faith in the wrong place.
The uproar caused by the false religion was all for financial gain. It had a great following and the mob rule became the law of the land. There is no right way to defend the WAY with these people – almost like walking into a hornet’s nest. Friends of Paul stopped him from going to the disturbance since it would add heat to the fire. God’s Way is the way of love and all in His time – hard to grasp and understand at times of persecution – but He does raise up faithful members in unsuspecting places His wonders to perform. Listen to His Voice also today and walk in His Way – His SonShine.
All to Jesus, I surrender;
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.