Real Hope: A Study of Acts 24-28Sample

Paul’s Response

In Acts 24 when Paul was standing trial for assumptions made about his faith and his apparent ‘troublemaking’ tendencies, there’s this verse where he disputed the truth of the charges being made against him but admitted to holding the faith they criticised him for. Five words stand out to me in this passage: ‘which they call a sect’. As Paul boldly confirms his belief in God and scripture in front of authorities who are opposed to them, he drops a note about another misconception they hold: that his faith is heretical and deviant from acceptable religion. There’s no denying obscure and ill-conceived religious groups exist, but I think Paul’s experience points to the times when faith in God is misunderstood simply because not everyone agrees with it.

When you share your faith, do people think you’re delusional? Silly for believing in a God you can’t see? Oblivious to the world’s ailments when ‘a loving God’ should do something about them? There are so many ways our faith can be ridiculed, sidelined and belittled, but Paul gave us an example of how to graciously respond by acknowledging their complaint and remaining steadfast in the truth of what he knew.

Paul’s beliefs weren’t theoretical ideas he sought to defend just because he ‘should as a Christian’. He was a man who’d known life away from Christ, been dramatically transformed by Him, and then determined to share the life-giving power of what he discovered. Your own belief in God has no doubt been hard-won and tried at times, but your experience of Him is an undeniable proof that can stand up to any accusation.

Written by LAURA BENNETT