The Acts of the Apostles is an exciting part of the Bible. For the last month or so it has been a focus of my teaching with a small group of cadets. It has been great to share with them in this journey.
Many people have trouble seeing past the amazing things that happened at Pentecost or to Paul on the road to Damascus. They (or is that we?) struggle to read the theology in the many speeches, and skip over the social dynamics behind many of the events we read about.
The Book of Acts is all about change. It is about God working in the lives of ordinary people to usher in the Kingdom of God. Read the book and you will find that change did not come easily, even for those who were trying their hardest to follow Jesus and respond to God's leading. Sometimes it took persecution to get them moving. Sometimes they fought and argued to hold on to old ways.
But Luke writes about ordinary people and their struggle to do what God asked of them. It was (and still is) easier for things that stay the same than to embrace change. Just as they struggled to embrace God-inspired change, so do we. But if they hadn't eventually responded we would not have known about the life-changing power of Jesus.
Perhaps we need to be a little less resistance to change, and a little more open to what God wants from us.
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