Day 26: Acts 8

time flies when you’re having fun. well, that’s what they say anyway. it also flies by when you let it. when your life can be summed up in a series of habits, routines, and busyness. that’s when life just passes you by. day 26. you’d think i’d be thrilled that i’m almost to the month marker! that this journey is well on it’s way to becoming my way of life. but that’s not the case. the truth is that my body’s calendar has flipped FAR more pages than my spirit’s! i’ve been focusing far too much on the life external. but there is so much more to me! there is so much more that God made me to be! these traits, these personalities, these skills–they’re from HIM! how can i neglect that relationship and expect my life internal to thrive? much of God is a mystery. His will can be confusing. but THIS is clear. without caring for the branch, it will produce no fruit. and if it produces no fruit, it will be cut away. so then, if i want to prevent such an outcome, i should do the opposite of it’s cause. you see, there are some times when God is VERY logical! so here i am, once again, diving into the history of the Church and gleaning wisdom from her past.

this passage is filled with some intriguing thoughts to me. first we see saul persecuting the church. he’s going on a rampage killing men, women, and children who are followers of Christ. so the church naturally scatters! they flee from the persecution. but here’s the best part. by doing so, they spread the Gospel of Christ to areas far outside the walls of jerusalem! i’m reminded of joseph being tormented by his brothers. in the end, joseph is second in command of egypt and his brothers are begging him for mercy! he says to them “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” [Gen 50:20] the same is true for saul and the early Church. saul sought destruction and death. but God used the persecution to scatter the Church far outside her comfort zone. {i wonder where God wants to scatter me.}

one of those areas is samaria. here philip is boldly preaching the Gospel and performing many miracles. many people are saved and baptized. so peter and john come down to bless them and pray for the Holy Spirit to dwell in these new Christians. this is an interesting thought to me. i mean, i see the church today blessing new believers and praying for the Holy Spirit’s movement in their lives, but the idea of two leaders of the Church traveling a great distance to bring the Holy Spirit is kind of an odd concept for me. i suppose it had much to do with there only being a very small community of people already housing the Holy Spirit. it’s a reminder that the Christian life is not automatic. as donald miller says, the climax of our lives is NOT our salvation. that’s merely the beginning! the climax is the Wedding Feast of the Lamb, when the Church is finally reunited with her Bridegroom. furthermore, we are not to let new brethren fend for themselves to figure things out. it is our duty to be yoked with them in this journey. {i wonder which yoke i’m not picking up.}

this section also talks about a dude named simon. simon’s a former magician (and thus popular dude around town) and a new believer. he sees peter and john praying over people and the Holy Spirit responding to their prayers. he offers peter and john money to give him the power to do this. of course, all the “church answers” went off in my head immediately! “what was he thinking?” “he’s so naive!” “that’s NOT how that works.” “it’s a good thing i’m so smart and know better!!” yeah…that last one happens more often than i’d like to admit. of COURSE he’s going to offer money for power! he’s used to it working like that! furthermore, he remembers what it was like to have power in the community. and now as a new believer he wants to make a positive impact on his community. his motivations seem pure. but he’s going about it all wrong. sometimes i’m so eager to do what i think is the right thing that i do it the wrong way instead of seeking God’s way. {i wonder which path i’m walking MY way.}

and finally, the last section is philip and the ethiopian. this is a pretty common story to me. in fact, it reminds me that sometimes spreading the Gospel doesn’t have to be the most arduous task known to man. for philip, his life just intersected with a seeker, and he responded to God’s call. i mean, philip just met this guy on the road reading Scripture and asked if the guy understood it. the guy simply asked philip to spell it out. it was prophecy from Isaiah. to the guy, it was just some cryptic writing. but philip was able to connect the dots from this prophecy to the Gospel of Christ. incredible! {i wonder what easy opportunities i’m missing to share the love of Christ.}

oh and one more thing. at the end of this story, philip baptizes the ethiopian….and then teleports. wait, WHAT? how on earth have a read this story over and over again and NEVER caught that? but there it is in Scripture. “And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away.” the ethiopian just got up and kept rejoicing. philip ended up in some other town!! seriously, how does this event barely get mentioned in Scripture and completely REMOVED from my head (or the teach of this story)? i don’t know why luke doesn’t go into more detail here. nor do i fully understand what went on. but what i DO know is that God can do whatever He wants. and teleportation isn’t hard at all for Him. at first, i wanted the power to do that!! but then i remembered what i just learned two paragraphs ago. maybe this is the perfect bookend to this chapter. sometimes God scatters through persecution. sometimes He simply moves you from one place to the next with ease. the point is to go where He sends you, however He sends you.

/prayer/ Abba, scatter me. yoke me. lead me. show me. may i see Your will in this world. may i be your prophet to the lost and broken. /amen/

Advertisement