People to Fill Up With and People to Help Pour Out
1 After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, 3 and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. 4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.
5 When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus.
Again, one of the best methods of bible study is to read is slowly and prayerfully.
Paul has come to Corinth because he’s on an apostolic missionary journey. Aquila and Priscilla are in Corinth because of persecution. They were run out of Rome because they were Jewish.
Paul usually went to a synagogue to talk to people, but somehow he met this couple first. He worked with them and shared a vocation, so that helped open up the conversation too.
There are a hundred ways that you can talk about your religion at work without getting in trouble. One of the simplest ways is to talk about your own life. The more you spend time praying, talking about the Bible with your family and friends, and meditating on God’s Word, the more all of that will come out of your life in natural conversation.
All too often we force our religion on other people the most when we are forcing it out of ourselves. It’s a lot easier for people to make faith in Christ a natural part of their lives when they see that it is a natural part of ours.
Paul did go to the synagogue as per usual. He reasoned with the people there and some of them listened. Surely the tentmaker couple he was working with became believers and probably provided some encouragement and rest for him after a time of talking to a bunch of people that were opposing him.
That’s the other side of going out and being a witness in the world. You need that core of people that align with your beliefs so that you can rest a little bit. It’s kind of like the way my wife can always kick back in a chair and take a nap at my mom’s and I can always kick back and fall asleep at her dad’s. Something about our in-laws makes us super-comfortable that everyone is taken care of and we can just zzzzzz.
The thriving Christian life has moments to let Christ shine among co-workers that believe differently, and moments to charge up around faithful friends. As fruitful and joyful Paul’s work was in Corinth, you know he was glad when Silas and Timothy showed up. Aquila and Priscilla were probably like, “Whoa, there are more of you!?” And they were also encouraged.
—
You can get the Daily Bible Readings to your inbox via email every day by subscribing on our home page. Join the discussion on Facebook or Twitter.