Acts 25

Acts chapter 25 opens with Paul being falsely accused. Sound familiar? Paul was a threat to the community of un-believers so they wanted him dead. They had been "successful", so they thought, in crucifying Jesus and Paul was next on their list. Festus heard all the accusations against Paul and could find no wrongdoing. Again, sound familiar? I am not comparing Paul to Jesus, only trying to drive the point home that both had false accusers and both stood before a judge that could not find them guilty of the charges.

Today we have an accuser, satan. The Bible calls him the "accuser of our brethren"(Revelation 12:10). I have no idea what the future holds. Will some of us, all of us, be accused by un-believers and find ourselves before a judge? Will the judge find any wrongdoing? I'm not sure. But I do know this, the Bible goes on to say in Revelation that our accuser is "cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death."

Paul, in Acts 26, will use his situation of being a prisoner as an opportunity to testify. He overcame his accusers with his testimony. May God give us the strength and courage to do the same at every opportunity. We all have a testimony of God's grace, mercy, goodness, deliverance and the list goes on. Can we, like Paul, look for opportunity to give a testimony? It just may be how we overcome.

Douglas Dunn