Saved for the

The two men were caught in a very bad situation. Beaten and imprisoned for the gospel of Jesus Christ, they refused to surrender to the dictates of their depressing conditions. They did not sit quietly, sulking and sorrowful. “But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed. And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself.  But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, ‘Do yourself no harm, for we are all here’” (Acts 16:25-28, NKJV). Both men had maintained a consistent attitude of acknowledging God regardless of the depths of their dreary condition, resulting in divine intervention on their behalf. There are definitely great benefits for God's children who consistently maintain an attitude of acknowledging, worshiping and praising God no matter what happens.

Illustrating the harmony of scriptures, the next Bible verse on this topic includes gentleness, one of the key qualities need to successfully connect with unbelievers: “And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:24-26, NKJV). As you may recall, gentleness is also identified in 1 Peter 3:15-16, as we have noted previously in this series.

The king was troubled and puzzled. How could his war plans keep ending up in the ears of his enemy? “He summoned his officers and demanded of them, ‘Tell me! Which of us is on the side of the king of Israel?’ ‘None of us, my lord the king,’ said one of his officers, ‘but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.’ ‘Go, find out where he is,’ the king ordered, ‘so I can send men and capture him.’ The report came back: ‘He is in Dothan.’ Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city” (2 Kings 6:11-14, KJV). What the king of Aram did not realize was the power of spiritual intelligence which is available to the children of God. Like many others who think they can plot in secret to harm God’s people, he could have saved himself a lot of trouble. But he was spiritually obtuse.

On the whole, when our foundation is entrenched in obeying God underscored by our love for others, it becomes clearer what path we must take when interacting with unbelievers. That path is identified in many Biblical verses to help us connect constructively with all types of people, from the unbelievers to the disagreeable. One such verse is 1 Peter 3:15 (KJV): “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear”. In my limited knowledge, sanctifying God in our hearts means prayerfully submitting ourselves to the purifying work of the Holy Spirit. It means the unrelenting confession, repentance and forsaking of sinful ways. By walking under the directions of the Holy Spirit, we can become more aligned in our thoughts and actions with the divine ways of a Holy God (see Romans 8).

Interacting with people we disagree with can be quite challenging. If handled badly, tempers can flare up, leading to even violent discord. For Christians, Godly patience and wisdom is required to preempt such flare-ups. A Godly temperament can help manage carefully the frustrations that come from talking with unbelievers or those who disagree with our interpretation of Biblical teachings. Reacting to them in anger or hostility can be quite costly and counterproductive. People may get turned off, as a result, and tune us out! They may completely lose interest in hearing one more word from us or anyone else for that matter about the message of the gospel which is profitable for their salvation. It is very critical that people get to hear why they need to be saved and not suffer the second death (see “Salvation: Life in Abundance”). The significance of the message requires thoughtful consideration of the means for spreading it.