For thought and meditation

[rl69]

But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

—Acts 16:25

The world watches with great interest when a Christian faces adversity. Every one of us faces hardship. Every one of us loses loved ones. Every one of us faces sickness. Every one of us encounters difficulties and hardships in life. But when it happens to Christians, nonbelievers watch to see if our faith is genuine. That is the time to show them what Christ can do, even in hard times.

Acts 16 tells the story of Paul and Silas, who were thrown into prison for preaching the gospel. Their backs had been ripped open with a whip, and at midnight, in the most unsanitary of conditions, in a filthy environment, with their legs stretched apart in shackles causing excruciating pain, Paul and Silas held a worship service. The Bible tells us that “at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God” (verse 25). Suddenly an earthquake shook the prison, their shackles fell off, the walls came down, and they were free to go.

The Philippian jailer, assuming they were free, knew he would be tortured and then put to death. He took out his own sword and was ready to kill himself. But Paul said, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here” (verse 28).

Then the jailer said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (verse 30). Paul and Silas made impact on him.

In the same way, there are people watching you right now. They’re developing an opinion about God on the basis of your life. It has been said that a Christian is an epistle, written by God and read by man. You are the only Bible that some people ever will read. They will be looking at you, and that may determine the course their lives will take.

[Pine Baron]

Thank you rl, I love this story and the example it sets.

[GhostHawk]

Awesome lesson sir. Well done.

[Blackwater]

Quote: "The world watches with great interest when a Christian faces adversity."

Wow! This is truly a significant statement! We "witness" in many ways, and the way we live our daily lives, and the way we act when adversity calls, is probably the strongest witness we can give. We often tend to rely WAY too much on words, and forget how crucial our behavior is, when we think nobody's paying attention or noticing, can REALLY be in the end. We WANT witnessing to be easy, but our true witness goes FAR past what we say with our mouths. It's in everything we do, and a lot of it is reflected in our simple attitudes towards others. Do we seem aloof, holier-than-thou, condemning, or otherwise think we're "above" the profane? If so, we have a LOT of learning to do! For all his status and abilities and potential as the literal Son of God, Christ was ALWAYS very humble, and showed Himself as our servant, rather than acting haughty in the least sort of way. We need to learn better to drop our condemnations and display the sorts of things that Christ displayed while He was still among us. Condemnations force folks away who NEED what we can show them. So condemnation works at odds with the goal we often give voice to.

As has been said here before, more folks have been loved into the fold rather than condemned into it! Very easy to understand, but given our natural human tendencies, hard to consistently display. But always WORTH it!