Stoned but Standing
Stoned but Standing
Reading: Acts 14:19-20 and 2 Corinthians 4:8-9
Devotional: Paul was stoned, dragged outside the city, and left for dead. Then he got up and walked back in. Paul later wrote in 2 Corinthians 4 that followers of Christ are struck down but not destroyed. What happened to Paul in Lystra was not a detour away from his mission. It was part of the road the mission required. The disciples who gathered around him did not have a formula.
They simply showed up. And surrounded by those who refused to leave him alone in his pain, Paul stood. What happened to us cannot become the author of what happens next. The grace of God is greater than the weight of what was done to you.
Reflection Question: Is there a wound from your past that is still writing your future? What would it look like to let God author the next chapter instead?
Practical Application: Reach out today to someone in your life who has been knocked down. You do not need the right words. Simply show up, send a message, or make a call. Be the kind of presence the disciples were for Paul.
Reading: Acts 14:19-20 and 2 Corinthians 4:8-9
Devotional: Paul was stoned, dragged outside the city, and left for dead. Then he got up and walked back in. Paul later wrote in 2 Corinthians 4 that followers of Christ are struck down but not destroyed. What happened to Paul in Lystra was not a detour away from his mission. It was part of the road the mission required. The disciples who gathered around him did not have a formula.
They simply showed up. And surrounded by those who refused to leave him alone in his pain, Paul stood. What happened to us cannot become the author of what happens next. The grace of God is greater than the weight of what was done to you.
Reflection Question: Is there a wound from your past that is still writing your future? What would it look like to let God author the next chapter instead?
Practical Application: Reach out today to someone in your life who has been knocked down. You do not need the right words. Simply show up, send a message, or make a call. Be the kind of presence the disciples were for Paul.
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