18:5 When Silas and
Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the Spirit, and
testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. 6 But when they opposed him and
blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to them, “Your blood be upon your
own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” 7 And he departed
from there and entered the house of a certain man named Justus, one who
worshiped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue.
Did you ever "run away" when you were a kid? I did.
I got angry at my mom one day and announced I was leaving and took off. There
was a small grove of trees not too far from our house and I went and hid there.
I watched my mom drive by looking for me and then come back by. Eventually
sitting in the trees got boring, my blood pressure had dropped, and I went back
home.
Paul is human. Paul also forgot for a moment his own history.

Thankfully God is both patient and has a sense of humour.
When Paul storms out of the synagogue because they won't believe and tells them
he's done with Jews and is only going to work with Gentiles the man who takes
him in and gives him a place to stay lives right next door.
Paul was burning a bridge or trying to. God was keeping the
bridge if not intact at least within sight.
The great Christian reformer Martin Luther tried his best to
reach out to the Jews with the truth. He wanted them to see and understand that
their Messiah had already come. They rejected him. The rejection turned him
bitterly against the Jews. He wrote hateful things about them. Little did he
know then that he was planting the seeds of the Holocaust.
Be aware of the walls you are tempted to build. Beware of the
boxes you put others in. Guard against nursing your own wounds and acting from
pride. Jesus was rejected by lots of people but that didn't make Him bitter. He
continued building bridges, not walls.
There are some heated issues in our world today. It is
tempting to put others in boxes based on their colour, religion, or country of
origin. Don't do it. Build bridges, not walls. God is love and His love knows
no bounds. Give the offenses and the frustrations and the hurt to Him. We're
all broken. He's the healer. He's got the whole world in His hands. Love has
already won.
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