I’m not sure what else we could have squeezed in today, Father, but thank You, especially for family! It was a blessing for sure!
Acts 16:35-40(<<click here to read the passage)
A popular societal topic seems to be not judging a book by its cover. I’ve seen videos and read stories, from different countries even, that press home this concept. Only seeing with our eyes can have dangerous consequences.
In searching for the origin of “judging a book by its cover”, it was in a book written by George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss (1860), and basically a man was called out for letting his young daughter read the book The History of the Devil by Daniel Defoe. The father’s response was, “Why, it’s one o’ the books I bought at Partridge’s sale. They was all bound alike, it’s a good binding, you see, and I thought they’d be all good books.”
That definitely wasn’t a good reason to buy a book! But aren’t we guilty of the same kinds of thought processes?
Here’s an example that’s a little out there. We were watching the out-of-state graduation of our niece last weekend via the internet when a student speaker referenced an inside joke amongst students that had to do with the lion’s den. Well until recently our area had been plagued with a business of ill-repute (a pornography store) that was called The Lion’s Den. Local believers had tried for years to close them, to no avail. But out of the blue here a few weeks ago, I noticed they had gone out of business! No complaints on my end – good riddance!
Anyway, when the student made the reference, all three of us thought about the disreputable business and quickly had to aright our minds to what he was more likely referring to in his speech. It was the graduation ceremony of a Christian high school, after all!
But our minds can easily jump the rails and off we go down the wrong track! In today’s passage, the city officials weren’t even on the right track to begin with. They weren’t thinking at all but simply reacted to the situation.
God was watching out for Paul and Silas, but when the chief magistrates decided to release them from jail, it seems to have been done more out of a “let’s get rid of these troublemakers” kind of mentality. It wasn’t until Paul pointed out that they were Roman citizens did the magistrates realize the potential trouble they were in, for it was against Roman law. The notes from the Amplified Bible state, “…it is clear from Acts that punishing a citizen without a trial and guilty verdict was illegal, probably involving severe penalties for the magistrates in charge.”
…the chief magistrates…were frightened; so they came [to the prison] and appealed to them [with apologies], and when they brought them out, they kept begging them to leave the city. vs38-39 AMP
Paul and Silas didn’t press the issue but instead, let the “scare” do its work. My Life Application Study Bible states, “The word would spread that Paul and Silas had been found innocent and freed by the leaders, expressing the truth that believers should not be persecuted especially if they were Roman citizens.”
May we as followers of Jesus be alert to the temptation to judge books by their covers alone. May we see others through His eyes, and act accordingly. Amen.
May 30th, 2022, Mon, 8:06 pm
