Today's passage is Acts 23:12-30.
Forty Jews take an oath to kill Paul, who learns of it from his nephew who he sends to the Roman commander who then orders four hundred soldiers and seventy horseman to take Paul to at night to Governor Felix with a letter of explanation.
Why do the Jews want to kill Paul?
Why are there so many messengers?
We have three messengers in this episode.
Paul is the messenger of God that many of the Jews want to kill. Paul's nephew is a messenger of warning to Paul and then the commander.
The commander's soldiers are messengers to Governor Felix about a problem he has to solve.
I was receiving and sending messages all day.
A parent complained that I'd rehired a good teacher because her son had heard bad rumors about this teacher and wanted to take his class but didn't want him to be the teacher. I told the woman she had to come sit in the teacher's class and judge for herself instead of listening to hearsay.
I also had reports that a new teacher was expecting too much from her students.
I have to sit in the new teacher's class and judge for myself.
The Bible is God's messenger to me of his good news of salvation.
Like the commander, I must act on the message I receive.
Today's passage tells me not to get angry at the mother believing rumors nor to get angry at the students who complain about a new teacher.
I asked the Spirit for guidance and reflected on today's message about messengers and made decisions based on that.
Lord, let me always test messages of this world with your message of the Word.
