Goodbook messages arrive every Tuesday and
Friday with a Scripture reading and ideas for how to apply the reading in our
lives. We are reading through the book of Acts. For additional Scripture
reading, you can follow the Advanced Track.Reading: Acts 18:6-8
But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized.
Application:
Paul demonstrates a spiritual practice that I really need help with. When people were cruel and abusive towards him, Paul “shook it off.” This is actually something Jesus taught his disciples to do. Jesus warned them that not everyone is going to be receptive to the Good News of God’s love through Jesus. He warned them that some people would not welcome them or listen to their words. Jesus told them not to let that bother them – to just shake it off. He said, “If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town,” (Matthew 10:14).
Shaking the dust off your feet was a symbolic act practiced by the Pharisees (religious leaders) when they left an unclean area. It was their way of saying, “I am not taking that with me.” It was their way of saying, “I am not allowing that uncleanness to stay with me.”
Many of the early followers were able to practice this in their ministry. When people were mean or hurtful to them, they did not allow it sink deep into their psyche. They did not allow abuse or negativity to stay with them. They did not carry that junk around with them all day (or wherever they went) in their minds and hearts. They shook it off! We see an example in Acts 13:51, and then here again in Acts 18 Paul does something similar. When the people Paul was ministering to were cruel and abusive, he shook it off and moved on. He went to another place where he was able to lead a man named Crispus to faith in Jesus.
I need to develop this spiritual ability. How about you? Sometimes I allow negative words or negative people to affect me deeply and stay with me for far too long. With God’s help, our aim is to be the most faithful witness of Jesus’ love in our world. If people respond to us with negativity or cruelty, we don’t have to take that. We can shake it off and move on. Have you been carrying around negativity or hurtful words/behaviors?
1) Shake it off!
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