March 8, 2005

  • I love this...


    Acts 18:4
    Every Sabbath he [Paul] reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.

    Sarah and I talked about this for a while yesterday, but it strikes me.
    It blows my mind. That Paul, the amazing person that he was, still tried
    and experienced a less than 100% success rate. The end of Acts 17
    starts this, but it encourages when I think that I'm not having any
    effect on anyone or on someone in particular. All we have to concern
    ourselves with is doing our jobs and letting God watch over the
    results. After all, we can't take credit for it ourselves - so why feel
    responsible when it doesn't seem to work right away?

    The other part of the verson soars right out of Earl Creps's (Coffeedrinkinfool) message at SALT, Chi Alpha's regional conference. Paul was, get this, reasoning with people! The fact is that Christianity in its purest form embraces
    the use of the mind. After all, God gave it to us, why not use it? This
    is something I'm beginning to piece together after growing up in a
    family that tends to rely too much on the reasoning with a church
    denomination that tends to disengage it too often.

    So, friends, fire up the brain cells! Reach out to others and don't get discouraged when things don't happen right away!