Monday Reading: Acts 17:1-9
Key Verse: Acts 17:3
3 opening and setting forth that Christ must have suffered, and to have risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus whom I preach to you is Christ.
Devotion:
One of the things that you will find when talking about Christ is that you are going to get some people that will be willing to listen, some not willing and then others that will do whatever they can to derail your conversation! People who are going to act normally and listen (or not) will not put you off your stride and they will not interfere with what you believe. Those that do listen will encourage you and those that do not will discourage you; but rarely will they change your belief. On the other hand the people who are going to rebel and even go out of their way to stop you from speaking are going to be the ones that challenge your faith the most.
Even as an adult teaching young children you will still get those that seem hell-bent on stopping you from teaching the others about Christ. Fortunately children are a bit easier to side track when they try to interrupt teachings; but peers will always tend to get the better of you if you do not have faith that Christ will carry you through.
If Christ is in your conversation, teaching or discussion, then you can know that He will make sure that His Word will get told in some way. You can know that whatever happens will be to His glory (so long as you are willing to allow Him in). You can know that He will carry you through the discussion and that others will listen.
Paul was able to tell a lot of people about Christ and how His life lived up to the prophesies that foretold of His coming and His resurrection. He was able, through use of the scriptures, to convince many of the truth... But there was a substantial group who would not accept the truth because it would mean them having to give up their “self made rules” and follow the truth. They would rather use the law of the land to put down the Law of Christ and they were willing to use whatever means it would take... That also meant taking other believers and dragging them through the mill to try and turn others against Christian teaching. We need to be aware but also to place our trust in Christ!
Points to Ponder:
Do you like it when people side-track your conversations?
How willing are you to allow Christ to win the conversation?
