THE KING’S BUSINESS
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32:17). There is a simple and excellent definition of conversion in the fifteenth verse. Conversion is simply turning to God from idols, to serve the living and true God (cf. 1 Thess. 1:9). Conversion there fore is a very reasonable thing. Monday, January 22 . Acts 14 : 16 - 18 . God has never in the darkest heathenism left Himself entirely “without witness” (cf. Ps. 19:1-6; Rom. 1:20). His care for men in doing them good and giving rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, and filling their hearts “with food and gladness,” have born witness to His fatherly love and His forgiving grace (cf. Matt. 5 :44, 45; Luke 6:35, 36). Even with these wonderful words Paul found it very difficult to keep the Lycaonians back from their proposed idolatry. It is hard today to keep men and women back from idolatry, even by the most patient and rational protest. Man seems to be born to idolatry as the sparks fly upward. They have little disposition enough to worship the true God, but a never ceasing tendency to worship some We here see how little dependence is to be placed upon popular favor: one day the people of Lystra were determined to wor ship Paul, now we see them attempting to stone him to death. Fortunately Paul was not dependent upon man’s favor, but ¡upon God’s (1 Cor. 4:3, 4), The man who depends upon the favor of the people, and even upon the favor of professedly Chris tian people, is in a pitiable condition. This was not the only experience of being stoned that Paul ever had (2 Cor. 11:25, 27). Every one who is loyal to Christ and His truth may expect this same sort of treat ment in this God-hating woijd (2 Tim. 3:12; John 15:18-20). The world'is not essentially different today from what it was then, and the faithful witness for and servant of Jesus Christ may expect this kind of treatment to the end of the present chapter. But there are abundant com man or thing as God. Tuesday, January 23 Acts 14 : 19 , 20 .
pensations (2 Tim. 2:12; Rom. 8:18; Matt. 5:10-12; 2 Cor. 4:17, 18). There are many who think that it was at this time, while in this condition of real or apparent death, at Lystra that Paul was “caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words” (2 Cor. 12:2-4). The appalling treatment that Paul received at Lystra did not stop his preaching. He rose up after his terrible sufferings and went right back into the city where they had stoned him, and then to the next city, Derbe, and preached the same gospel that he had been stoned for preach ing in Lystra, and then back, again he came to Lystra, where they had done the stoning. It is evident that ' Paul was a man of indomitable courage and of loyalty to Christ and His truth, a loyalty that could not be crushed. Oh, for men today with such courage and persistence, and such unquenchable love for Christ and man, that no suffering will deter them from witness ing for Christ even to the very ones who stone them for their faithful testimony. Wednesday, January 24 . Acts 14 : 21 , 22 . Abundant success attended Paul’s preach ing at Derbe. Then returning to the cities of Lystra, Iconium and Antioch that had treated him so outrageously, he confirmed the souls of the disciples and exhorted them to “continue in the faith,” urging upon them a truth that we much need to bear in mind today, viz., “we must through many tribulations enter into the kingdom of God.” Let us learn from this that it is not enough to bring men to Christ, we must strengthen and build up young converts. Just at this point is one of the principal causes of failure in much of our modern evangelical work. We start men in the Christian life, but we do not urge them to “continue in the faith,” nor show them how to do it. It is not enough that men start in the faith, they must “continue in the faith” (cf. John 8:31, 32; 15:4-6, 9, 10; Col. 1:22, 23; Rev. 2:10). It needs to be emphasized over and over again in our day of easy-going Christianity that “we must through many tribulations enter into the
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