Acts 14:18-19 Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them. Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead.

To me this is very reminiscent of Palm Sunday and Good Friday, where Jesus was lauded as the Messiah and then handed over to the Romans to be crucified. Crowds are very unreliable! The people here were wanting to worship Paul and Barnabas as gods, and then Jews from Antioch and Iconium convinced them to stone Paul. We never know what will happen! However, as horrible as this was, this was in all probability the time when Paul was taken up into heaven, as he describes in 2 Corinthians 12:2-4, and I’m sure he was very grateful for that experience. God indeed uses everything that is submitted to Him for our good! (Romans 8:28) We don’t know how the ripples will spread, so to speak, either from what we do and say or from what happens to us, so we need to be active in submitting and committing everything to God. That requires real faith, because we aren’t very good at it, but the better we get at it, the more peace and joy we will have. As it says in Hebrews, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:11) We need faith both to reject the adulation of men, as Paul and Barnabas did, as well as to stand firm in the face of their attacks.

At this point I’m getting a lot of flattery, as people are shocked to hear I’m as old as I am, and as people at my schools respond to the idea that this is my last term of teaching there, so I need strength of character to stand against that. I’m not to be rude, but I particularly need to stand against such things going to my head. God alone is worthy of praise and glory, but my flesh covets it! As I’ve written recently, I don’t feel like I’ve encountered much real persecution, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen at any point. I’m not to seek it out, but neither am I to run from it. After all, everything on earth is by definition temporal, and thus not worth comparing to what awaits me in eternity with my Lord. Again, Paul said it well: “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18) And that applies to the things that seem enjoyable, as well as the things that do not.

Father, thank You for this reminder. I’ve been very slow to learn this, but I don’t think I’m unique in that slowness. Help me indeed apply and live out all that You show me, so that Your purposes and no other may be accomplished in my life, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!