May 13 | Acts 14:19-23
- Pamela Mann
- May 13, 2025
- 3 min read
DAILY READING
REFLECTION
True Trust
By Pam Mann
If you’re reading this Bible passage for the first time, go ahead and read it again. Maybe read it a third time to get the facts straight. In fact, read the previous paragraph to know why folks come from Antioch and Iconium to incite the crowds to stone Paul.
At first, the crowds in Lystra are so enthralled with the healing of a lame man while Paul is preaching about Jesus that the people think him a Greek god in human form. They want to offer animal sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas! The two missionaries struggle to make people understand they are mere men with a very great God.
Once the out-of-town naysayers arrive, there’s no more talk of divine status. The public opinion quickly and completely turns 180. Now, instead of worshipping the missionaries, the people want to murder them! They pummel Paul with stones and leave him for dead! We all know mission trips have their highs and lows. But who can beat this contrast in a single trip?
Fortunately, the naysayers and the enraged locals misjudge Paul’s medical status. Or, maybe, God works mightily to revive Paul as believers gather around him. At any rate, however, it happens. Paul is not down long. He gets up, returns to the city, and then what? He heads home for some much-deserved R&R? He goes on personal retreat to work through the trauma of his attack? Oh, no. He and Barnabas go directly to the next town and preach! These mere men have true trust in a very great God.
God blesses their trust and preaching in Derbe by bringing a large number of souls to saving faith in Jesus. So, now they’re going to take that well-deserved time off, right? Oh, no. It’s back
to Lystra for them, back to the town where Paul was nearly killed by stoning. And it’s back to Iconium and Antioch where the naysayers have their home turf.
Do Paul and Barnabas go there to be restored after the terrible ordeal? Oh, no. They go to strengthen the church there, to encourage the believers “to be true to the faith.”
Note the quote in verse 22: “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” Paul and Barnabas are holding back nothing. They are all in. They have a Savior who gave all. That Savior is their Lord in whom they entrust their lives.
No wiggling toes in the shallow end to test the life-in-Christ waters. They are heading off the high dive into the deep. They’re all in, no matter what lurks in those deep waters, no matter how frigid those deep waters are, no matter who wants to drown them. True trust in Jesus is like that, don’t you think?
PRAYER
Jesus, don’t let us waste our lives in shallow faith. Build in us what You built in Paul. Grow in us a yearning for deep faith. Give us true trust in You!
Find additional "Dying to Live" study materials designed for small groups or individual use here.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PAM MANN
I first joined UALC when my husband (then my fiancé) and I were college students involved in youth ministry. God has used UALC to nurture our family’s faith, even in our years outside the U.S. I’ve participated in UALC ministries with kids, art, prayer, exercise, ESL, and Bible teaching. I do all the fun church things.
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