Share Regardless

Acts 13:44-52 KJV 

44 And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. 45 But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. 46 Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. 47 For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. 48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. 49 And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region. 50 But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts. 51 But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.

God tells us that when we preach the truth, we WILL receive persecution. People are not rejecting us, but are they are rejecting the Word. We shouldn't stress about it; we should shake the dust from our feet and move on.

I know that often I take it personally, but I need to stop doing that. When people reject God's truth, then I need to stop trying to force it upon them and just move on. It may be that I have planted a seed or watered the seed. It isn't my job to make the seed grow.

Lord, help me continue to share Your Word with others. Help me put my own jealousies aside and just continue sharing You.

The Cost of Faith

Acts 19:18-20 KJV 

18 And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds. 19 Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.

As I was reading about Paul, I was struck not only at the amount of suffering he, himself, endured, but also what others did as well.

While in Ephesus, Paul preached Christ and many came to know Him. When those who were into "curious arts" (some translations say strange arts) came to faith, they were convicted to rid themselves of their old practices. They burned books that together were valued at 50,000 pieces of silver!

Could they have turned around and sold them to others? Sure, but then their influence would have still been around. They took a financial loss for their faith.

This brings to mind ways we may endure financial loss due to our faith. Maybe it is throwing something away instead of selling it. Maybe it is spending more to purchase something so we aren't supporting a business that uses their profits for things that go against God's commands. Or, maybe, it is by not making as much money on something because we refuse to participate in practices that bring harm to others. There are many ways that our faith may cost us.

My prayer is that my faith is always stronger than the financial cost.

Has your faith cost you financially? How did you deal with it? I would love for you to share. Sharing may encourage someone else who is dealing with the possibility of financial loss because of their faith.