Do you know that your response to the word of God is reflected in your character and your way of life?

The word of God is like a mirror, it should reflect the kind of life you live and help you know where to make changes. For the word to bring transformation in our lives we have to respond to it in Faith. Believing in the word of God is the only thing that allows that word to work in you and cause changes in you.

My reference scripture is in the book of Acts chapter 17 where Paul, Silas and Timothy go through several cities to share the word of God. In their mission they encountered different people who had different views and responses to the Word of God. Their response to God’s word explains the kind of life they were living.

In Thessalonica (verse1-9) Paul goes to the synagogues to reason the word of God as it was his customs. He goes further explaining and proving Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. Some Jews believed and a large number of God fearing Greeks and a few prominent women believed too. Verse 5 catches my attention - "But the Jews were jealous so they rounded up some bad characters from the market place, formed a mob and started a riot in the city...".The story continues as they seek Paul and Silas to accuse them before the courts.

What do we see here?

Many Thessalonians received the word of God as Paul and Silas delivered it. In this context, we see two different responses from these people who heard the word.

• Some believed and as a result of that they joined Paul and Silas in the salvation and in its power.
• Those who didn’t embrace the word of God developed jealousy, anger and pain, and as a result they mobilized some bad characters from the market place and started a riot against Paul and Silas in the city.

Therefore, it’s important to note that:

1. When you respond to the word of God with faith, the results are great! You become a positive thinker and influencer, the word starts working in you and transforming you.
2. When you fail to believe the word of God there are results too. You possess every kind of negative attitude and the enemy has got a lot of options for you:  jealousy, anger, bitterness, hatred to name but a few.

After the chaos in Thessalonica Paul and his colleagues head to Berea.

In Berea

 In Berea (verse10-15), Paul reasons the word of God in the synagogue as his custom. I love what the bible says about these people, it goes even further by comparing them to the Thessalonians. "Now the Bereans were of noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true."  Oh my! How powerful this words are!

I see several traits here of these receptive Bereans;

1. They were open minded
2. They were hungry for the word.
3. They took salvation personal. (It was their responsibility to confirm if what Paul said was true that is so personal)
4. They stood their ground!(Even after the Thessalonians followed Paul and Silas to Berea and started starring the crowds, they remained unmoved, they protected Paul and the team and even organized how Paul would get to Athens safely as Silas and Timothy remained with them).

Am excited about this people, if you believe in the word of God your actions will surely tell. Let’s get to the last city in this chapter and see their response as well.

 In Athens (verse 16 onwards), Paul is greatly distressed to see the city is full of idols. He tries reasoning the word with them but this people were in another different world of their idol worshiping! All they could hear is strange ideas getting into their ears.  But why was it so? Verse 21 tells us that "All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas”. In short these Athenians were excellent idlers and perfect gossipers.

This explains:

1. Why they couldn’t believe the word of God because it sounded like the latest news or the latest gossip in the city in that season.
2. Why they worshipped an unknown God and even built temple for what they did not know. What magnitude of ignorance is this? Verse 32 "When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered..."

How do you respond to the word of God?

Let’s examine ourselves through this word. Write down your response

1. What’s my/your character when it comes to responding to the word?
2. Are you a Thessalonian, Berean or an Athen?

May the Lord help us to believe in His word and respond accordingly?

Let’s pray together in faith

Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we humble before you in response to the word we have received, we ask you to forgive us where we have failed to believe in your word and ended up causing pain and bitterness to ourselves and those around us. Help us oh God to believe in what you have said and that will transform us to become what you want us to be. In Jesus name we pray! Ameen.

Shalom