#24 | Take Time to Think
Read: Acts 14:1-8
Meditate on your own:
- What did Paul and Barnabas do in Iconium and Lystra? How did people respond?
- What do you notice about Paul and Barnabas’s response to the crowd at Lystra? What do they emphasize in their message?
- What verse/phrase in this text stands out to you?
- What truth about God or mankind can you draw from this?
- Where else is this truth seen in Scripture?
- How is this truth good news for you and others? Who needs to hear it?
- What does this truth reveal about your own heart?
- What are some ways you can respond to the truth of this passage? Is there something you need to repent of? What do you need to ask God for? What can you thank/praise God for?
Consider
Is it necessary to verbally share the gospel, or can we simply let our good deeds speak for themselves and wait for someone to inquire about our faith? In the case of Paul preaching in Lystra, he demonstrated the power of God through healing a crippled man who believed in his message. Yet when the crowd saw it, they didn’t ask Paul about his faith; they didn’t need to. They had their own definitions for things like God, spirituality, the supernatural, and good works. So, when they saw God working through Paul, they thought they knew exactly what happened — their gods had come down in human form (14:11).
Like so many people today, their definitions were not informed by God’s word. Because of that, they did not see good works as coming from God, and their lack of knowledge led them to even more sin. Paul and Barnabas did not allow this to go uncorrected. Instead, they explained their good works by sharing the gospel, starting where many of us should start today: clarifying who God is and what he has done. Paul and Barnabas explained that God is the only holy Creator who “made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them” (13:15). Further, he is the source of every good thing people have, not their gods or their work ethic (13:17). Indeed, this God created all things, including those from Lystra, and he was still blessing and pursuing them despite their rejection of him to “walk in their own ways” and devote themselves to “worthless things” (13:15-16).
Doing good works is important, even essential, to be witnesses for Jesus. But, like the people at Lystra, people today will not know that you do good works in the name of Jesus unless you share the gospel of Jesus with them.
In what ways are you tempted to think your good deeds speak for
themselves rather than sharing the gospel? Is there a situation in your life where you can explain your motivation for the good works you do by sharing the gospel? Take time to review the gospel — God loves you; sin separates you; Jesus rescues you — and think of how you would share it in your own words with the people around you.
Pray:
Use the acronym IOUS, turning the prayers of the Psalmist into your own.
Incline my heart to you and not to prideful gain or any false motive!
Psalm 119:36
Open my eyes to behold wonderous things out of your Word.
Psalm 119:18
Unite my heart to fear your name.
Psalm 86:11
Satisfy me with your steadfast love.
Psalm 90:14
