What's Inside Matters Most

Daily Reading: Acts 14

They returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. (Acts 14.21-22)

Devotional Thought: On Paul's inaugural missionary journey, his life was threatened in Iconium, he was left for dead in Lystra, and he was rejected by his own people in Antioch.  Completing his missionary tour, Paul retraced his steps and went to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch.  Amazing!  I think I would have avoided those places.  But Paul could not stay away.  He knew that the new converts there would face many tribulations.

The word which is translated tribulation describes internal pressure that causes someone to feel confined, restricted, and without options.  There is another Greek word which focuses on the external pressure of circumstances.  Paul did not use that word.  He knew that while the external pressures of tribulations were difficult, the internal pressures were sometimes overwhelming.  Imagine what he felt as he lay outside the city of Lystra, after having been stoned and left for dead: “Why am I doing this?  These people can just be lost!”  But there was something inside Paul that was fighting back.  It was the tug of the Kingdom.

As we consider the erosion of religious freedom and the ridicule of Christian values, it is not a far stretch to think that one day soon we will be the target of persecution.  Whether or not we face the kind of persecution faced by Paul, we will experience the pressure to give up our values.  Resist this internal pressure and remember the words of Jesus: "In me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world" (John 16.33).

Prayer: Father in heaven, I have little control over most of the circumstances around me.  I will go through tribulation as I enter the Kingdom.  Give me grace, I pray, to resist the internal pressure to give up or grow angry.  I pray this in the name of Jesus, who endured affliction for me.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 76.1-7

 In Judah God is known; his name is great in Israel.

His abode has been established in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion.

There he broke the flashing arrows, the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. Selah

Glorious are you, more majestic than the mountains full of prey.

The stouthearted were stripped of their spoil; they sank into sleep; all the men of war were unable to use their hands.

At your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both rider and horse lay stunned.

But you, you are to be feared! Who can stand before you when once your anger is roused?