Today’s Bible readings are 2 Kings 15:1-16:20, Acts 19:13-41, Psalm 147:1-20, & Proverbs 18:4-5
Acts 19:28-32
28 At this their anger boiled, and they began shouting, “Great
is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 29 Soon the whole city was filled with confusion.
Everyone rushed to the amphitheater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, who
were Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia. 30 Paul wanted
to go in, too, but the believers wouldn’t let him. 31 Some of
the officials of the province, friends of Paul, also sent a message to him,
begging him not to risk his life by entering the amphitheater.
32 Inside, the people were all
shouting, some one thing and some another. Everything was in confusion. In fact, most of them didn’t
even know why they were there.
When I read today’s readings I am reminded of how easy
people can be lead astray. All it takes is 1 or 2 troublemakers saying the
right thing to move the heart of a people to total confusion & even riot.
It is exactly what the enemy used to kill the Son of glory. We see it at work
here trying to destroy the life & ministry of Paul.
Sometimes people who have bitterness & resentment in
their hearts look for a reason to lash out & destroy others. I have seen
this happen many times in the ministry. There have been several occasion when I
have been the recipient of such behavior. We have to be wise enough to not fall
into this type of behavior.
In our text today, we see how a couple of guys were upset
about something. They didn’t like the way things were going, so they started to
manipulate the crowds. They tried to turn the crowds against the ones that they
thought was responsible for the changes that they so despised. They started to
cause trouble for the apostle & his ministry team.
Many times when this starts to happen, people get sucked
into the negativity. In the end, there are a bunch of people who are angry
& they don’t even know what they angry about. They have been led astray by
the cunning & deceptive behavior that has manifested in the lives of
individuals whose hearts are impure. They have impure motives that bring
confusion.
James 3:16
16 For
wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find
disorder and evil of every kind.
I have watched numerous people who have become swept away by
angry, bitter Christians. These people come & prey on a person when they are
vulnerable. In the end, they cause a person, who was otherwise alright, to be
angry & discontent. Many times, this is what leads to church conflict. Often,
people are unaware that it is a few people who are creating the chaos. The
chaos usually is blamed on other things.
We have to do our best to not allow bitter, angry,
self-centered people to entice us into their web of deceit & destruction.
Choose today to walk in love. Don’t be one of the victims who get sucked into
the trap only to become one of the angry mob who doesn’t even know what they
are angry about.
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