| Devotional Hours with the Bible |
Chapter 17 |
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A woman was lost in the mountains. All night she wandered, seeking the way home. At length she sank down and died as the dawn was breaking. In the morning they found her but a few steps from the door of the hotel, which she had been struggling to reach. Close about heaven’s gates millions of souls perish — almost saved, yet lost! God wants us to be altogether Christians. Almost will not avail. How terrible the thought, forever, to the lost sinner, that he was once so nearly saved, and yet lost for all eternity! Paul’s answer to Agrippa came from the heart. “I would to God … all that hear me … might become such as I am, except these bonds.” It is not enough that we are saved ourselves; we must be propagators of the gospel; we must try to save our lost fellows. Paul knew he had something which Agrippa and the other had not. Sometimes Christians forget that they are children of God and heirs of God, that they have eternal life, that heaven is theirs. They go about hanging their heads in the presence of those who are not Christians, almost as if apologizing for being Christians. But even in the presence of a king, the governour, and the other people of rank, Paul was conscious that he was far richer than they were, had a higher rank. He had something they had not, and to possess which would greatly add to their happiness and honour. If all Christians had this realization of their dignity, honour and noble rank, it would greatly add to their power in impressing Christianity upon the world and in urging others to come with them into the same blessed life.
Perhaps Agrippa’s answer to Paul’s earnest words showed how he was impressed, “This man might have been set at liberty, if he had not appealed unto Caesar.” So it looked as if Paul had made a mistake in appealing to Caesar. This made it necessary that he should be sent to Rome. It would have seemed better that he should at once be released from prison that he might go out to preach. But there was another Hand, not a human hand, that was at work unseen those days amid the complicated movements of things. God’s plan was being wrought out in spite of, even in and through, men’s enmities and persecutions. Paul had a mission in Rome. He was wanted to carry the gospel there. Had he been released at this time he would probably have been seized again by the Jews and might have fallen a victim to their rage and hatred, thus ending his work. His appeal made it necessary that the Roman Government should take him to Rome. Thus he was sure of protection and was carried to the world’s capital without expense, that he might there preach the gospel. Thus Rome itself became a helper in extending Christ’s Kingdom. We shall see, as we read on, what good and blessing came out of this, which seemed that day an unfortunate thing, a hindrance. God’s plan for our lives are always good, and we need only to help Him work them out.
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