Skip to main content
Daily Devotions

Our Response to Mistreatment

By November 14, 2014No Comments

Read Acts 14 – 16

And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. Acts 16:25 KJV

Having set a young slave girl free from demon possession, her owners were upset, had Paul and Silas whipped publicly, and locked away in the dungeon of the prison. This was their reward for sharing the gospel and setting a young girl free of a horrible bondage. We expect when we do what we should as Christians, that somehow our lives will be in a protective bubble; everything will go well and nothing difficult will happen. Quite often the opposite is true; we suffer for the sake of the gospel and because we don’t expect it we are surprised by it and complain. Paul and Silas were given the lashes of a whip, but responded to their mistreatment with prayer and songs of praise. God used their response as a testimony to everyone in the prison. Because they responded as they did, the jailer and his household were saved, baptized, and took part in the church planted in Philippi.

Lord, I often feel sorry for myself when treated poorly after serving you in someway. This does neither me nor anyone else any good. I want to respond like Paul and Silas so you can use me to accomplish your will when my circumstances are both good and bad.

A question to ponder: Has there been a time when you shared the gospel with someone and were mistreated because of it, how did you respond?