ACTS 13:49-52

The word of the Lord spread through the whole region.  But the Jewish leaders incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their region.  So they shook the dust off their feet as a warning to them and went to Iconium.  And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

TO PONDER

Have you ever felt rejection and the sense of failure that goes with it? Paul and Barnabas were rejected by the leaders of the city of Antioch, but their reaction was truly odd. 

Imagine travelling a great distance with a message of hope and joy only to have your message rejected and then to be expelled by the people you took it to. A normal reaction to that would be a deep sense of rejection and failure, but not by these two, they ‘were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit’.

Perspective is everything. Operating in their own strength, misery and dejection may have been the probable outcome. Barnabas and Paul however, left the city the same way they had entered it, in the presence God, with his Holy Spirit and with joy. They shook the dust of that town off their feet and moved on to the next. The crazy thing is, despite what seemed a failure, God turned it into a success. Further on in Acts we learn that it was precisely in Antioch that Jesus followers were first called Christians. There’s the joy. 

Remember: God can never be defeated. Those who move with him, will never know lasting defeat.

PRAYER

Father, I place my life in your hands. I want to know the lasting joy of working side by side with you. Amen.

Today's devotion written by David Schuppan, LifeWay Illawarra.