Testimony Day
Thursday — Testimony Day
What would you do if you were asked to go back to the place that hurt you most?
Today's Scripture: "And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, 'We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.'" — Acts 14:21–22
Reflection: After being stoned, left for dead, and getting up to preach in Derby — Paul and Barnabas turned around and went back. Back to Lystra. Back to Iconium. Back to Antioch. Back to the cities where people had tried to kill them.
And when they got there, they didn't lead with their wounds. They strengthened the disciples. They encouraged people to remain faithful. They spoke with complete conviction: Keep going. It's worth it.
Notice what Paul is not saying. He is not saying suffering saves you. He is not saying you earn your way into the kingdom through pain. The gospel is grace — the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. What Paul is saying is simpler and harder: in a broken world, following Jesus is going to cost you something. The road into the kingdom has always run through Calvary.
But here's what makes this testimony so powerful. Paul wasn't speaking from a comfortable chair. He was a man who had literally just been stoned. He had lived every single word of it. And at the end of the chapter, when he and Barnabas gathered the church together and gave their report, they didn't talk about everything that had been done to them. They reported everything that God had done.
That's the perspective of someone who has learned to endure.
Today's Application: Reflect today: are you measuring your journey by your hardships, or by the faithfulness of God? Try naming one thing God has done — even in a hard season.
A Closing Thought: When you stop measuring the journey by the hardships and start measuring it by God's faithfulness, everything looks different.
What would you do if you were asked to go back to the place that hurt you most?
Today's Scripture: "And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, 'We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.'" — Acts 14:21–22
Reflection: After being stoned, left for dead, and getting up to preach in Derby — Paul and Barnabas turned around and went back. Back to Lystra. Back to Iconium. Back to Antioch. Back to the cities where people had tried to kill them.
And when they got there, they didn't lead with their wounds. They strengthened the disciples. They encouraged people to remain faithful. They spoke with complete conviction: Keep going. It's worth it.
Notice what Paul is not saying. He is not saying suffering saves you. He is not saying you earn your way into the kingdom through pain. The gospel is grace — the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. What Paul is saying is simpler and harder: in a broken world, following Jesus is going to cost you something. The road into the kingdom has always run through Calvary.
But here's what makes this testimony so powerful. Paul wasn't speaking from a comfortable chair. He was a man who had literally just been stoned. He had lived every single word of it. And at the end of the chapter, when he and Barnabas gathered the church together and gave their report, they didn't talk about everything that had been done to them. They reported everything that God had done.
That's the perspective of someone who has learned to endure.
Today's Application: Reflect today: are you measuring your journey by your hardships, or by the faithfulness of God? Try naming one thing God has done — even in a hard season.
A Closing Thought: When you stop measuring the journey by the hardships and start measuring it by God's faithfulness, everything looks different.
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