SWHW Bible Reading Plan - Year 2 January 2021Sample

January 19

Top Takeaway from Emily Copeland:

There was a lot of division in 2020; I chose to side with sweatpants instead of regular adult clothes, coffee beat water by a landslide, and cereal in place of real dinner was the clear choice most days. (Okay..., so the division we've actually experienced has been far heavier and weightier.) 

But when I was reading Acts 14, one verse, in particular, felt like reading a brief excerpt from 2020:

"The people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles" (v.4).

Paul and Barnabus were hitting up the usual spot, the Jewish synagogue, to preach the gospel. They were so effective that many Jews and Greeks believed in Jesus. But there is always pushback. Those Jews who didn't believe stirred up the minds of others, and this led to the division. They plotted violence against the duo, so Paul and Barnabus left.

They hadn't been silenced; they had simply been sentenced. 

I love how this ends in verses 6 and 7, "But they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding countryside where they continued to preach the gospel."

When division all around us is taunting us to pick a side, change people's minds, prove we're right, and get lost in the facts, I want to show you what this passage taught me:

1. The division didn't change their gospel message.

2. The division didn't pause their gospel message.

3. The division didn't make them question their gospel message.

The gospel itself divides by its very nature. That is not our job. Our job is to make sure that the gospel is front and center in every issue that is placed before us. Our job is to love people enough to run to them with the gospel and not with any other agenda.

If we are tempted to give differing opinions more head and heart space today than to God and sharing the gospel, then we will be susceptible to changing our gospel message, pausing, and even questioning it.

Can I point out one more thing I noticed here? Verse 27 is very telling to me too. "On arriving there (now back in Antioch), they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles."

Left up to me, I probably would have started the report by saying, "You wouldn't even believe the nerve of those Jews . . . let me tell you what they did to us . . .” 

But by God's grace, the report had nothing to do with the division that happened in Iconium. That wasn't part of their news. Why? Because they stayed on mission and on task. They preached the gospel and lives were changed despite the animosity, division, and violence. Paul and Barnabus refused to get caught up in the conversations that mattered less than the gospel and seeing it change lives.

So I will set my heart to do the same today. Will you join me?

God, forgive me for getting caught up in divisive talk and ideas. Thank You for giving us the gospel, in Jesus, that brings real life. Help me to remember today what matters most. I want to bring back a report that I was faithful to the gospel and to reaching souls, not changing minds. Thank You for trusting me with this work like You did Paul and Barnabus. I love You. Amen.