God’s way will stretch us

Every day we’re asking four questions about part of the Bible. Today Bern Leckie answers:

What did I like about today’s passage?

God is going to do a thing. Can you feel the energy, the tension building up to it? I love how Paul is ready to be used for God’s thing, and Luke, the writer, draws us into how he and everyone else felt about it. “We and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem.” Other disciples had begged the same. There’s an odd detail in verse 5 of chapter 21: “Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem.”

Is Paul’s way set against God’s way, then? Is the Spirit, who also warned about Paul’s suffering to come, encouraging or opposing Paul’s decision to offer himself completely for this thing that had made Paul certain than many people would never see him again?

The thing is the mission trip to end all mission trips. Well, more precisely, to end Paul’s mission trips. It’s the last thing we’re going to discover in this book, a journey which will change many people’s lives as God fires Paul like an arrow into the heart of the Roman empire. And you can’t fire an arrow without building up a lot of tension first.

This could not be any more dramatic. Rome is the biggest earthly power anyone has ever known at this time. It embraces many gods but has no room to accept a claim there is only one God. The leaders of Israel, oppressed by the Romans, still beg for their power to oppose Jesus – they know his claim to be king would be unacceptable to Caesar, who claims to be a god. We know he isn’t, but he’s still mighty in earthly terms, with a formidable army and control over the economy and politics of most of the known world.

So how on earth could God use this fledgling church to change that? Many have simply been waiting for Jesus to return and sort it all out. But what if God has a different plan? This is the thing. And it starts with Paul entering Jerusalem and, just like Jesus, getting arrested and brought before the Romans with a crowd shouting for his death.

But this time, there’s a twist. God doesn’t need Paul to be killed here. Instead, he uses Paul to tell a story which shows how Jesus, the gospel and his own life have become joined together. I love how this opportunity to share about how God changed him will change everything.

What did it show me about Father God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?

God can equip and call us for incredible, unique purposes in his kingdom cause. But he also partners with us rather than forcing us to do difficult things. I think this is why we hear about people urging Paul to reconsider “through the Spirit” – God’s Spirit is present in us whether we accept or push against a move or change God wants to make. God lets us feel the tension of change, such as the opposing forces of wanting to stay with good things we have now or let God radically reconfigure our future. God stretches us, deliberately, which strengthens us too.

What am I going to do differently as a result?

Keep my mind more open to ways God may want to challenge, stretch and change it.

Who am I going to share this with?

My family, because some practical, challenging stretches in how we use time may be here.