Today, I am reading and commenting on  Acts 26-28.

I am always struck fairly hard by what Paul said to Agrippa towards the beginning of this passage when Agrippa asked him if he thought he could persuade him so quickly to become a Christian. “Short time or long—I pray to God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.”  The sentiment which Paul expresses there should be at the heart of our thoughts and motivations whenever we speak to people, or even interact with them in any other way.  We should desire that somehow, someway, the Spirit would move the hearts of those we interact with such that they will come to know Christ Jesus.  However, today I was struck by the juxtaposition of those words of hope which Paul spoke to Agrippa with the words with which he parted from the local Jewish leaders in Rome.

I want to first emphasize that I do not take what Paul said in Rome as being just about Jews.  Rather, I interpret it as applying to anyone brought up to be religious, or who strives to be religious for other reasons.  So, what did Paul say?  He told them that these words applied to them:

“You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
    you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.”
 For this people’s heart has become calloused;
    they hardly hear with their ears,
    and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
    hear with their ears,
    understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.”

Despite saying this to these people, we know from Paul’s letters that he felt about them just as he had felt about those he spoke to in front of King Agrippa, that all listening to him would become as he was: a disciple of Christ.  Further, I want to point out that he made that depressing statement to a group of which some had been convinced.  That quote was a statement of how things are, of the choices people have made, not a statement of how God desires it to be.  So, when we see things like the acts of Hamas on October 7th, let us weep, not just for the victims, but also for the perpetrators.  Because if they, the perpetrators, would truly look with their eyes and hear with their ears what God is saying to them, they would understand with their hearts and turn to God.  And He would heal them.  Let us pray with all that we are that God’s Spirit will find reception among them so that they will allow Him to heal them.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.