Day 31: Celebrate! (Acts 14:24-28)
Today’s Passage: Acts 14:24-28
What is the biggest celebration you’ve been to? How about the most memorable party? Any time when sheer joy was corporately and collectively shared?
Family events, such as a wedding, come to mind. For some people it is when their team finally wins the big championship. For others, it is when, after much hard work, their concert or play succeeds. Still for others it is when a naval ship or army train pulls in, and with hundreds of people, after months of separation, their loved one is finally in their arms.
What is it for you?
I wonder, have you ever had that experience in church?
“And when they had arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.” Verse 27
I am picturing a party, a celebration. This movement of Jesus is spreading across the world. The text does not emphasize what Paul and his companions suffered. Rather, it emphasizes all that God had done…opening doors!
Each year millions of people become new followers of Jesus.
The statistics can be challenging to sort out, because people like me would want to distinguish between someone being born into a Christian home as compared to someone making a profession of faith. Yet amid all the back-and-forth with the statistics, millions of people become new followers of Jesus—and each ONE is precious to God.
I wonder, if you and I could somehow visually see each of these souls come to faith. Imagine you are in a room with phones ringing, and “lighting-up” as Jesus enters people’s hearts and they experience his forgiveness and love. What would the mood in such a room be like?
Sheer joy and exhilaration!
I expect it is good we do not perpetually live in such a place, for we might forget the multitude who have yet to hear and receive His Word.
No one should live in a perpetual party—yet we do need to take time to celebrate. Upon their return, Paul and his companions gathered the church to celebrate.