Manuel was late for church and stuck at a red light. As he waited impatiently, his daughter noticed a stranded driver trying to fix a tire. “Daddy, you’re good at changing tires,” she said. “You should help her.” Manuel was now going to be very late, but he knew this was a divine appointment. He stopped to help, even inviting the other driver to church.
Paul and Silas faced an interruption in Acts 16. They’d encountered a slave girl with an evil spirit who kept shouting (v. 17). For several days, Paul ignored her. Finally he became too annoyed and said to the demon, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her” (v. 18).
Paul had made a conscious choice to serve others even when it was inconvenient. When he freed the girl, it only became more complicated. Her owners lost the means to make money from her, so “they seized Paul and Silas dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities” (v. 19). Then they were beaten and thrown into prison without a trial (vv. 22-24).
Serving Christ comes at a cost. Jesus told His disciples they were to take up their cross and follow Him (Matthew 10:38). This is the way of Jesus: We’ll be interrupted and sometimes suffer, like our Savior. He invites us to accept those unexpected interruptions. How will you respond when they come?
How do you react to interruptions? How might you permit God to work through you as you deal with them?
Dear Father, please open my eyes today to opportunities to serve others.
For further study, read Self-Control Requires Letting Go
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The interruption Paul and Silas encountered in Philippi (Acts 16:16-24) was the result of another, more dramatic one. Earlier in Acts 16, these first-century missionaries were making their way across Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) but were hindered from speaking the gospel along the way by the Holy Spirit (vv. 6-7). This seems to set the stage for what would happen when they reached Troas on Asia Minor’s western coast. There, Paul received what is known as the Macedonian Vision (vv. 9-10), in which a man from Macedonia pleaded for Paul and company to come and help them in ancient northern Greece. Paul’s response to this interruption led to the establishment of the first church in Europe and set the stage for the interruption in today’s text.
