44 The following week almost the entire city turned out to hear them preach the word of the Lord. 45 But when some of the Jews saw the crowds, they were jealous; so they slandered Paul and argued against whatever he said.
46 Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and declared, “It was necessary that we first preach the word of God to you Jews. But since you have rejected it and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we will offer it to the Gentiles. 47 For the Lord gave us this command when he said,
‘I have made you a light to the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the farthest corners of the earth.’[m]” 48 When the Gentiles heard this, they were very glad and thanked the Lord for his message; and all who were chosen for eternal life became believers. 49 So the Lord’s message spread throughout that region.
50 Then the Jews stirred up the influential religious women and the leaders of the city, and they incited a mob against Paul and Barnabas and ran them out of town. 51 So they shook the dust from their feet as a sign of rejection and went to the town of Iconium. 52 And the believers[n] were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
While facing rejection or push back from people, how does one keep uplifting Christ?
3 comments:
Shake the dust off and move on. Problem is I don't even get dusty very often.
cas
We know that what we know is the truth. When we face rejection, we need to hold fast to that truth and remained focused on those who *will* listen.
I just love the equality that Paul gave them - that rejecting God's word is the same as judging yourself unworthy of eternal life. Well, I guess if you're going to put it that way...
tba
I find that the contrast between your two comments a constant battle in my head. There are lots of people who I care about who I have been given an opportunity to plant the seed and have been given push back/rejection/laughed off. Part of me wants to convince them and continue arguing to help them believe and part of me wants to shake the dust off. I beileve that's where prayer comes in, to let God intercede.
crb
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