Message/Application:
In Acts 21 all the things that Paul had been warned about were starting to go down. As soon as Paul showed up in Jerusalem the Jews were all fired up against him making their accusations that Paul was coming against the teachings of Moses. The church came up with plan for Paul and four other men to go through the ceremony purification process together to prove that Paul wasn’t there under any destructive purposes, but days into it all the Jews unraveled from there with all kinds of speculation. They had “previously seen” Trophimus, the Ephesian in the city with Paul and they “supposed” that Paul had brought him into the temple complex. They used this tiny piece of speculation as fuel for the fury and they seized Paul, dragged him out of the temple complex, shut the gates and attempted to kill him. Word came to the commander of the regiment that all Jerusalem was in chaos. They got there in time to stop the beating of Paul and took into custody really for his own protection. Today as I read through this is was reading about the speculation that went on that really left me triggered. The Jews had a narrative already built concerning the motives of Paul. They weren’t at all interested to know what he was or wasn’t trying to do. They picked up a shred of speculation and used it as ammo to unleash against Paul. Thinking about this kind of thing gets my blood boiling in so many ways. We have people around us in all directions that are using little pieces of speculation as ammo for a narrative that is already built inside their own ideas and agendas. If we are interested in truth, we will seek after God for truth. Otherwise, we will be like everyone else, biting onto the speculative pieces that are thrown out with the purpose of division and distraction from our actual purpose. I don’t want to be tethered to any of these biases and my challenge as I read and write this is to set aside every speculative idea and ask God to shed the light of truth on any and all situations regardless of how affirmed or confirmed they may be appear to be.
