Acts 13- His-Story

I'm glad to be back blogging in Acts.  Take time to read a very full and action packed chapter in which I can officially stop saying "Saul" and start saying "Paul".

In Chapter 13 Paul and Barnabas were given the opportunity to speak in the synagogue at Pisidian Antioch. Paul delivers the gospel message by giving the Jews an overview of their history.  However, Paul's historical account is different than you might expect.  The information is all the same as they remember, but Paul doesn't make the nation of Israel the star of the show.

In my count in the few paragraphs it takes Paul to tell the basic history of the Jewish people he uses sentence structure that indicates God as the actor in their history 21 times.  For example, Paul doesn't say, "You overthrew the Canaanites" rather he says, "He (God) overthrew the seven nations in Canaan and gave their land to His people as their inheritance."

Paul wanted to make it very clear that God was the author of their history.  He does this so they can see that, like everything else in Jewish history, Jesus is a gift to the people that is all of God's doing and not of their own work.

Sadly, we read in verse 46 that they "reject it (God's gift in the form of Jesus) and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life."  Paul says the reason the Jews were rejecting Jesus is because they didn't see themselves as worthy of such a great, free gift.

Many of us feel this way too.  People want to make Christianity more complex than it is because they don't consider themselves worthy of the free gift of Christ.  People feel they need Jesus and...  You can fill in the blank with any work you can think up.

You are worthy of eternal life.  Why?  Because you are not the one that has written your life story.  God wrote your life story and is the actor in your history just like He was for the nation of Israel.  Your story is His-story.  Consider yourself blessed to be a part of His-story.  And guess what, His-story includes you being worthy of eternal life.

So, look at God's fingerprints all over the pages of your story and realize that not only is He a part of your story but He allows you to be a part of His-story.  Yesterday was my 25th birthday and I can tell you it is fun seeing my role in His-story.  Also, remember that you are worthy of His gift given through Jesus; you are worthy of eternal life.  If you haven't accepted that gift do that today.