Friday, April 29, 2011

Acts 21:17-40; Not Ideals

I hear what the Jerusalem Christian leaders said and then look at what Paul was teaching. In ways, there seems to be a disconnect. The leaders in Jerusalem were very concerned not to break too much with Judaism. Paul and his work seemed to have already made the break. Yet, Paul obeyed the advice of the leaders in order to maintain peace. (Obviously it didn't work but I think that no matter what Paul tried at this point it would not have worked; he was too volatile a figure for the Jews.)

The fact that Paul listened and complied impresses me. His heart was not proud nor was he stubborn in his ways. Many of us would have argued with the leaders and stood on our ideals. Many of us would have followed the American Way instead of the Jesus Way by breaking away to start our own movement. Paul, on the other hand, surely could have argued about multiple points with the advice and beliefs of the leadership but he chose not to. He chose to stay in a relationship with the people of his heritage. His goal was to connect people with Jesus; not to be right on every point. I admire that quality. It is not an easy one to acquire and speaks highly of the values of Paul.

The older I get the more relationships, heritage and community seem to grow in value and the more being right - especially being recognized as right - seems to diminish. It also seems that the older I get the more I try to undo the idealistic stances I developed in my younger days. What once seemed like "fight'en-words" doesn't seem to matter that much anymore. Sometimes life needs a reset button.

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