Thought for the Week

Scriptures to Read:

Acts 24:27

Acts 25:1-3

Acts 25:4-6

Acts 25:7-8

Acts 25:9-11

Acts 25:12

Acts 9:10-19

Felix is replaced as governor by Porcius Festus. Almost immediately, he is confronted by the Jewish leadership who desperately want Paul dead. Festus spends a period of time in Jerusalem. He seems to know that city as a "hot spot" for trouble. Their request to him is to have Paul brought to Jerusalem for a trial. Their assumption is they could ambush and kill Paul on the road. We also assume they wanted jurisdiction in the trial.

It would make little difference where the trial was held if Festus still was the judge. He is not willing for that to happen but he does ask Paul if he was willing to go stand trial in Jerusalem. Paul's answer is "No!" "I appeal to Caesar!" With that, Festus is "off the hook." He is not challenged any more. He now has no responsibility to decide Paul's fate. The Jews still face Paul as a challenge. He will continue to influence people. They are angry but will be able to do little about it. Of course, even if they had killed him, his memory would still provide influence. They, not the exact same people, killed Jesus decades ago and His influence is greater now than it had been while He still lived on earth.

Their challenge was not in a man; either Jesus or Paul, their challenge was they were fighting the truth. Both Jesus and Paul brought the message of truth: God so loved the world – God is not only the Creator of mankind, He is the Lover of the souls of men. As such, God wants men to be free from the penalty and consequences of sin. The Jews wanted men to keep the Law – they couldn't – no human can. Jesus fulfilled, kept to the absolute perfect degree, The Law. He became the sacrifice for sin. He fulfilled the total requirement of the Law.

The Jews couldn't see that or accept it. That was their challenge. They could not overcome it by killing Jesus or Paul. Some think Paul wrote the Letter to the Philippians while under this "house arrest" in Caesarea. Paul has faced his challenge and overcome it when saying, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21). Life was precious to Paul. He is living life to the fullest degree possible. His lived-full-life was a sacrifice to God. Had it not been precious to Paul, it would not have been a fitting sacrifice to God. But even as he lived fully for God, he knew death would be an explosion of joy in the presence of the Triune God he loved. Paul's challenge was to be all he could be for the glory of the God he loved.

The Psalmist says, in the presence of God is fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11). As Paul, our life covenant with God should be to love and cherish Him for better or worse, richer or poorer, in health or sickness as long as life shall last. Do you waken with this thought and expression on your lips and in your heart: "This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it" (see Psalm 118:24 and a host of other Scriptures). Only to a minor degree can we choose conditions we live in. But we can choose in whatever condition we live to live for God.