Food for Thought
Do Not Be Afraid,
But Speak
by David Churchill
In
Acts 18:9-10 Paul has some curious words of encouragement given
to him by Jesus. Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night
by a vision, Do
not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; for I am with
you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many
people in this city. Why did he need to hear
them?
Its hard for me to imagine
Paul, that courageous and outspoken apostle, being scared of
anything or of shutting up anytime when something needed saying.
Yet, at least once in his life, in this particular situation,
Paul was afraid to tell others about Jesus he was considering
keeping quiet so as to not stir up trouble. And he needed
to be encouraged, to be emboldened, to have his courage revived.
On the other hand, I can sympathize
with how he felt, having felt those same feelings myself, although
with a lot less reason. All of us have felt them at one
time or another. Yet, these words restored Pauls
courage. And if we let them, these same words can restore
our courage.
For starters, did you notice how
in this particular case the opposite of be afraid is speak?
Its true in our case as well. We will either
be afraid or we will speak. Its often just that simple.
Next, what two reasons did Jesus
give for Paul to speak and not be afraid? The first is
for
I am with you (remember
Moses
back in Exodus chapters 3 & 4, and Joshua in Joshua 1:8-9?)
and the second is for
I have many people in this city.
Those are our reasons, too, arent they?
Think about that the next time
you see an solid opportunity to talk with someone about Jesus,
but hold back in fear instead think of His presence with
you and of the many people He has in this city waiting to hear
you tell the good news. |