Acts 7-8 CSB
Saul agreed with putting him to death. On that day a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the land of Judea and Samaria. Devout men buried Stephen and mourned deeply over him. Saul, however, was ravaging the church. He would enter house after house, drag off men and women, and put them in prison. So those who were scattered went on their way preaching the word. (8:1-4)
We can often come up with any number of excuses to be disobedient. We all have things that the Lord has called us to do, but we are often too busy, too tired, or just too distracted to obey. We need to be reminded why we exist and we need to remember who we are! Think about it; if the Lord loves you then why didn’t He just take you to heaven the moment you were saved? He would have spared you from a life of trials and hardships if that were the case. We all understand that He didn’t just save us so that we could be with Him in heaven—He also saved us so that we could serve Him here on this earth. There is a job for us to do and there is no “plan B.” He could have used any means to spread the message but He chose the Church and Christians to be His ambassadors to a lost world.
If any people had a reason to not fulfill their calling then it would have been that early church. They didn’t have the complete Bible that we have today (it was still being written) and they didn’t have the large congregations of believers that we have today either. They were outcasts, they were a minority, and at this point in Acts, they were on the run for their very lives. Saul was ravaging the church and he was hunting them to kill them or throw them in prison. However, those early believers saw the hand of God in this somehow. They thought to themselves, “If it is not safe to stay here in Jerusalem then let’s leave… but as we go let’s keep preaching the word.” Ironically, that was the very thing that got them into trouble to start with.
These first believers saw it as their duty to spread the gospel wherever they went, regardless of the obstacles they faced. They saw their circumstances as the means that God was using to thrust them out into the places that needed to hear their message. That is still true today. You work where you work, you live where you live, you have that family that you have because God wants you to be an ambassador to those people. Your circumstances are no mistake, and whatever those circumstances are you should be using them as your platform to share the hope that you have with others. Whether you are sharing from your cubicle at work, your front porch with your neighbor, or even from your sickbed in the hospital, God has put you where you are for a reason. Be faithful and preach the word!
