Run Out Of Town

In the book of Acts, we find the exciting story of the origins of the early Church. Stephen was stoned to death by an angry mob, and Saul, consenting to his death, then began great persecution against the church in Jerusalem. All who named the name of Christ were scattered.

At times we wonder what would have happened if the Gospel had stayed in Jerusalem with the original disciples, and under the old Judaistic patterns? Might it have died an early death? Would it have been smothered in its infancy?

But the Gospel got out! It left its place of birth. Indeed it was driven out...run out of town! And this act of hardship saved the Church. The attacks upon the early Christians were a blessing in disguise...as so often hardship is.

Many of us could tell accounts of the hard things in life, which, though they shook us, also strengthened us, and made us stronger. We recall how Joseph in the Old Testament, spoke to his brothers who had sent him into seeming slavery, and said, "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good." (Genesis 50:20) And again, we think about the verse: "We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him," (Romans 8:28)

This is not to say that Christians look for trouble, but when it comes, it can be a stepping stone instead of a stumbling‑block. You take problems and twist them into opportunities. Trouble throws you a 'curve', so you look at it squarely, and end up getting a home‑run!

The early Christians had no idea what they had started. But God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform." (Wm. Cowper). Christianity had broken out of its swaddling clothes, and it was on its way out into the whole world.

There is a small lake in Minnesota, called Lake Itasca. A visitor noticed a small overflow at one end, and said to a fisherman nearby, "The lake is leaking". The man replied: "Man, that's no leak...that's the beginning of the Mississippi River!" The Mississippi River may start as a leak in a tiny lake, but it ends with a mighty body of water, flowing to the Gulf. And so, Christianity began with a handful of unpromising people, and situations, but God's forces are still rolling along.

The Good News got out, under duress, and thank God it did, because you and I are the beneficiaries of it. Is it possible today to look at the hard things that come into your life, and say, "I wonder what exciting things the Lord has in store for me? I think I'll try to find out."