Seeds Worth the Stones

Acts 14:8-20 tells the story of Paul and Barnabas in Lystra, a small and remote Roman military outpost. Paul had already walked more than 150 miles to reach that city. He did not go there looking for ease. He went because God called him to preach the gospel (Ac. 13:2-3; 14:6-7). In that town a man who had never walked was healed (Ac. 14:8-10). The crowd tried to worship Paul and Barnabas as gods (Ac. 14:11-13). Then the same crowd, stirred by opponents who had traveled a great distance to stop him, stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, believing he was dead. God raised him up. The next day Paul walked on to Derbe. Later he would return to Lystra more than once (Ac. 14:21; 16:1). On the surface, the work in Lystra could look small and costly. Paul was scarred for the rest of his life. The harvest in that moment seemed thin. Yet God had a reason for sending him there. In that city lived a young man named Timothy, along with his mother and grandmother (Ac. 16:1; 2 Tim. 1:5). What looked like a worthless return was, in God's hands, the planting of a life that would carry the gospel far beyond Lystra. Sometimes we ask whether the sacrifice is worth what feels like a little yield. This passage answers that question. It is worth it, because Jesus uses obedient servants to reach more than one generation.