“Paul replied, ‘Whether quickly or not, I pray to God that both you and everyone here in this audience might become the same as I am, except for these chains.’”
Acts 26:29 (NLT)
Paul’s desire in this moment is not freedom for himself. Freedom through Christ is on his mind. His burden is for these unbelievers to have access to eternal life. Paul is not concerned about his suffering, chains, or plight. He’s willing to suffer, and he’s focused on helping others find Jesus.
Paul is not only a follower of Jesus; he is a leader for Jesus. Many in this room are also leaders of leaders. I don’t think Paul is just looking for conversions. He desires that they rechannel their influence from earthly power to heavenly power, using it for the gospel. If they took hold of the gospel and turned like Paul did, how many people could they affect because of their leadership, influence, connections, and positions?
Paul doesn’t only want them to meet God through Jesus and move from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. He wants them so in love with God, so infatuated with Him, and so obedient to Him that they would endure suffering as well to help others hear the good news. Paul wants them to have the same closeness to God that enables him to endure and changes those around them. Paul wants them to love Jesus so deeply that even chains would not matter, because their relationship with the Lord means everything.
Today, I wonder where you’re at. If you just know about God and want to go deeper, read your favorite passage in the Bible. Start a new habit. Take that next step God has encouraged you to take. Give more of your time and energy over to Him, whether through changing what you listen to or watch, praying more often, getting back into church, or getting into a church for the first time. I pray that you become like Paul: fully committed to God, fully in love with God, fully surrendered to God…just without his chains.