When I was a young minister, I somehow developed a belief that if I just presented Gospel message well enough, clear enough, people would almost magically respond in faith and if they didn’t, then it was my fault for not communicating it well; but Luke tells a different story.

In Acts 13, we see what Kingdom Witness looks like when it leaves the safety of familiar ground to find its way through a dark world in more need of hope than it can realize. Paul and Barnabas arrived in Antioch Pisidia, opened the scriptures, and proclaimed the Good News of Jesus. The responses to their words was mixed, just as I learned the responses would be when I did the same. Some received it with joy while others resisted it. The same witness wrought extremely different responses.
 
As I’ve said many times, dealing with tension like this is vital to understanding and living under the Kingdom Rule of Jesus. Being faithful to the mission isn’t measured by whether or not everyone approves or whether or not everyone responds in a favorable way. We are called to speak the Word truthfully, remain humble, and stumble forward in obedience.  Sometimes we make smooth strides and others we barely get one foot in front of the other, even when the message of Jesus is welcomed by some and rejected by others.
 
It’s easy to slip into a pattern of self-protection or even defensiveness when the message we know is really Good News is met with often passionate opposition. But Paul and Barnabas did what they always do, they turned to the calling God had given them, using the language from Isaiah to show themselves as a light to the Gentiles in order for salvation to reach the ends of the earth.
 
Reading this gives us an incredibly clear pattern. We look for opportunities to share the Good News of Jesus, we serve those in front of us, and we refuse to manipulate the outcome with fear or emotional pressure. When opposition and rejection come, and they will come, we intentionally refuse to confuse that rejection with personal failure .

The Kingdom advances because the risen King is busy doing His work not because His people are awesome or skilled at “closing the deal”. Our task isn’t completion, our task is faithfulness.
 
Not many of us will find ourselves sharing the Gospel in a church or synagogue like Paul. It most often looks like a simple conversation, a meal, an act of courage, or patiently walking through life in friendship. Wherever Jesus sends us, our path is the same: bear witness clearly, love people well, and leave the results to Him.

Where has God already given you an ordinary opportunity to speak, serve, or show someone the nature and character of Jesus? Have you ever been tempted to control another person’s response instead of just being faithful?

Father, teach me to be faithful like Paul and Barnabas. Give me courage to speak without harshness or anxiety over the outcome. Help me love people well whether or not they respond to the message. Help me see the current opportunities you’ve already given me and new ones that will come. Guard my heart from measuring my obedience by visible results. Help me to trust You with every outcome on this journey. Amen.

“This week I can bear witness to Jesus by __________________.”