There Were Some

Day 168: Acts 11:1-30

“But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.” - Acts 11:20-21 ESV

As we previously mentioned, the death of Stephen ended up forcing the Christians in Jerusalem to flee and take the message of Jesus with them. So it seems as though the first missionaries were refugees. Most stayed with what they knew and reached out only to Jews, but some saw this as an opportunity to reach non-Jews.

Luke doesn't tell us if these primitive missionaries were acting independently of what had happened with Cornelius and his family, but it seems like they were. If that's the case, I love it. It shows us what we already know to be true about God. He connects us all by our mission before we are actually connected personally. God was moving toward the nations with His message of the Kingdom, the Good News, and it wasn't just an isolated instance in Caesarea with Cornelius and his crew.

So, what is our challenge for today?

Be among the "some." Allow your heart to be open to where the Holy Spirit leads you, even if it may not match the majority. The creativity found in being open to the Spirit's leading is life-giving, both for us and all those we encounter.

"Here we have a truly amazing thing. The Church has taken the most epoch-making of all steps; and we do not even know the names of the people who took that step. All we know is that they came from Cyprus and Cyrene. They go down in history as nameless pioneers of Christ. It has always been one of the tragedies of the Church that people have wanted to be noticed and named when they did something worth while. What the Church has always needed, perhaps more than anything else, is people who never care who gains the credit for it as long as the work is done. These Christians may not have written their names in the history books; but they have written them forever in God’s Book of Life."
- Barclay, W. (2003). The Acts of the Apostles (p. 103)