Acts 26:24-32: a reflection

24As he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are crazy! Your great learning is driving you insane!” 25But he said, “I am not crazy, most excellent Festus, but boldly declare words of truth and reasonableness. 26For the king knows of these things, to whom also I speak freely. For I am persuaded that none of these things is hidden from him, for this has not been done in a corner. 27King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.” 28Agrippa said to Paul, “With a little persuasion are you trying to make me a Christian?” 29Paul said, “I pray to God, that whether with little or with much, not only you, but also all that hear me today, might become such as I am, except for these bonds.” 30The king rose up with the governor and Bernice, and those who sat with them. 31When they had withdrawn, they spoke to one another, saying, “This man does nothing worthy of death or of bonds.” 32Agrippa said to Festus, “This man might have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”

Paul stands in chains before King Agrippa, on trial, and yet listen to what he says. When Agrippa remarks, in a short time you would persuade me to become a Christian, Paul replies, I would to God that whether in a short or long time, not only you but all who hear me this day might become such as I am, except for these chains.

Sit with the astonishing generosity of that. Paul is the prisoner, the accused, the one in bonds. By every worldly measure, the king should pity him. Instead Paul, from his chains, wishes that the king and everyone listening could have what he has. He considers his faith in Christ so precious that his deepest wish for his judges, his captors, the whole room, is that they would share it. Except for these chains, he says, become as I am, because what he has in Christ is worth more than his freedom is worth losing.

That is a striking picture of contentment and love. Paul's circumstances are miserable, but his treasure is untouched, and it makes him not bitter toward his captors but loving, wishing them the very best thing he knows. It raises a question for us: do we hold Christ as that precious, so that even in hard circumstances our deepest wish for others, even those who wrong us, is that they would come to know him? Let Paul's contentment and generous love, from his chains, teach you where your true treasure lies.

Lord, give me Paul's heart, so treasuring what I have in you that even in hard circumstances my deepest wish for others, even those who wrong me, is that they would come to know you. Let my contentment and love not depend on my circumstances but on the treasure of Christ, which no chains can touch.