What do you brim with?

by leighgray | February 6, 2012 1:39 am

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Over the top cheerleader for Jesus, hubby, two kids and all things Kingdom. Current roles: Christ Community Church Serve Minister; speaker, writer, blogger.
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During my Bible reading this morning, I was struck with a couple of sentences in the book of Acts. Paul and Barnabus are doing their thing:  preaching the Word of God to everyone they meet. This particular part of their story places them in Pisidian Antioch, a town with both Jews and Gentiles.

Though initially asked by the Jews to speak at the synagogue, the Jewish leaders had become very jealous of Paul and Barnabus and their popularity.  You and I both know that their ability to attract and influence came from Jesus, of whom they preached. However, the Jewish leaders didn’t see it that way. They determined to have the two men, Paul and Barnabus persecuted and driven out of their town.

What I want you to see and hear and think about is the reaction by Paul and Barnabus:

“Paul and Barnabus shrugged their shoulders and went on to the next town, Iconium, brimming with joy and the Holy Spirit, two happy disciples.” (Acts 13: 51 – 52, Message)

As I read these verses, I had to go back and read them again. Surely I had misunderstood. After these guys were doing what God had called them to do, they got beat up for it, driven out of town, and they were brimming with joy?

I would have been brimming with something, but it wouldn’t have been joy and the Holy Spirit.

So, how do we react to jealousy, persecution, and opposition? I don’t know about you, but I get angry. I cry. I avoid. I run. I give up.

 

We must be confident in our calling and in the One who calls us. When people come against us, we need to be able to shake the dust off of our feet and move on to the next place in our journey.  We need to be so full of joy and the Holy Spirit that it spills out of us…we are actually brimming with it.

You see, Paul and Barnabus did not REACT to their situation, they REJOICED. May we be so bold.

Source URL: http://leighgray.com/2012/02/what-do-you-brim-with/

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