Acts 13:52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

The single largest provocation for the persecution that the believers experienced at this point was jealousy, as it says clearly in verse 45. However, the response on the part of the believers was joy, and openness to the Holy Spirit. In the Church today, local churches are just as likely to become jealous of secular organizations and seek to copy them, even to the point of discarding the truths of God completely. Just yesterday I saw a news report of a church that was “unapologetic” for having a “drag queen” program in the service! Talk about getting things backward! When churches lose sight of their purpose and their Lord, they have nothing to draw people, nothing to offer. The world might welcome them as their own, since that is what they have become, but they have cut themselves off from the Source of life, and are dead indeed. In the Upper Room Discourse just before He was arrested (John 13-16) Jesus made it clear that persecution was “part of the package,” so to speak, but in the very last verse of that, just before He started praying, Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) That’s precisely what the disciples mentioned here experienced. “Toning down” our expressions of faith to try to avoid trouble doesn’t work; it just robs us of our joy and peace in the Holy Spirit.

As I have written before, I don’t feel like I have been persecuted for my faith. At times it’s almost worried me, making me think I wasn’t being true to my Lord! However, I have certainly had trouble of various sorts, just as Jesus said. I have been betrayed and even ridiculed, but I would hardly call that persecution, compared to what I know my brothers and sisters in faith in other places experience. I have indeed experienced what this verse says, being filled with joy and the Holy Spirit, and I am deeply grateful. I am to so live that those who are hungry for peace and joy will come to me to receive what God gives so freely, for their salvation and His glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Right now I am filled with thoughts of our neighbor, who was taken to the hospital last night for what will likely be the last time. I pray that he would remember the things I’ve shared with him over the years and cry out to You in this time of need, to receive the eternal life that only You can offer. May he accept Your salvation while he still has the opportunity, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!