By Kate Murphy
Our story ends as Paul arrives in Rome. While Paul surely gloried in the honor of dying for Christ, Luke spares us the details of his martyrdom. And I am grateful for that. I prefer to leave him here, in his rented house, preaching the gospel boldly and without hindrance, with an open door for all those seeking truth.
Paul is so impressive — his brilliance, his bravery, his boldness and, the foundation of it all, his total surrender to Christ. There is a danger that we will marvel at his story — at all the stories of the early church — honor them as heroes and saints and then close the book and get on with our ordinary lives.
The book of Acts isn’t meant to impress us. As impossible as it seems, Luke gives us these stories as maps to follow, as recipes for a holy life. That’s why he is so careful to preserve a record of Paul’s foibles, set backs and personality. Paul isn’t a super-hero. He’s an all-too-human man who allowed God to lead him. Just as the story of Jesus didn’t end with Jesus, the story of the church — the bold, prophetic, powerful, suffering, beautiful church — doesn’t end with Paul or any of the other apostles.
God is still writing that story. We aren’t allowed to sit and watch. God still calls those of us who love Jesus to lay aside our pride, our security, our plans and our past and take up the cross. If God can use Paul and Peter and Andrew and Simon, then God can use us. If God was willing to act in the lives of John and Philip and Bartholomew and James, then God will act in our lives.
Jesus didn’t live and die so that you could sit on the sidelines.
The Kingdom is here and now. You know enough. You are enough.
Take up the cross, follow Him.
- How has God used your life to build the Kingdom of God?
- How can you use the book of Acts practically, as a map, to follow Jesus? What do you see now about life with God that you didn’t see before?
- What other details did you notice in today’s reading?
Prayer: Dear God, sometimes it’s safe to pretend the Bible is a fairy tale full of holy heroes. But it isn’t. You have always used ordinary people to do extraordinary things for the sake of the Kingdom. Give us the grace and courage to believe this and help us surrender to your will for our lives. Amen.
