Persuading

So when they had appointed him a day, many came to him at his lodging, to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets, from morning till evening. And some were persuaded by the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved.  – Acts 28.23-24

Paul's house arrest was an interesting situation. While technically a prisoner of the state he still was able to have visitors in his home. Many came to see him there to hear him and find out what he was speaking about. It seems to be just about all he did, from morning till evening.

That in itself is a challenge. Paul may not have had Facebook or Twitter or YouTube or 196 television channels, but there was still plenty of other things that he could have been doing. He could have felt sorry for himself being under house arrest. He could have said, 'Well, there's not much I can do here.'

But he didn't do that. He stayed at it, opened his Bible, and strove to persuade men from the scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah they were looking for.

I like Paul's sense of priorities. Persuading people was A1 on his priority list. Everything else were A2s or B1s or somewhere else down the list. I know we cany stay at home under house arrest with people coming in, but surely we can do a better job of rearranging our priorities.

Something else sticks out too. Some were persuaded, but even with Paul some still disbelieved what he had to say. We need to recognise that when people reject our message, unless we are just being jerks, it is Christ, nut us they reject.

So let us keep praying, keep persuading, and keep preaching and leave the results up to God.