Acts 14:26 And thence sailed to Antioch, from whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled.
Acts 14 can be crazy! There are such highs and lows. Maybe some days you feel like you are on a rollercoaster. Some days are wonderful and some days are bad. We don’t tend to remember the gray days, the ordinary, nothing-happened days. What we remember are the highs and the lows. That is exactly what we see in Paul and Barnabas’ ministry in Acts 14.
Let me give you an example. Acts 14:18 says, “And with these sayings scarce restrained they the people, that they had not done sacrifice unto them.” Now, long story short, these people had heard Paul’s marvelous words, saw his miraculous works, and they said, “These men are gods!” In fact, they attributed to them the identities of gods they already had, one of which was Mercury. Mercury was the god from which we get our name for the chemical in the old-fashioned thermometer. Mercury, like the chemical, was up and down, fickle, not a god who could be pleased easily. That is what they thought Paul was, but Paul was anything but mercurial. He was not up and down, though his circumstances were.
Now, Acts 14:19, the following verse, is remarkable because of what a contrast it is to Acts 14:18. Without missing a beat the narrator says, “And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.” What! Shouldn’t there be some kind of “on the other hand there came a day when once upon a time…” No, they worshipped Paul as a god and then they stoned him and left him for dead. These were the same people, and this was the same timeframe. Of course, Paul was neither a villain nor a god.
What can you can take from this? It may be that today has been a great day for you or maybe today has been very bad for you. Maybe today was not memorable at all. But looking back, what you will remember are the highs and lows, and as you look at those, it is important that you neither get too high nor too low but rather have some kind of perspective on your life. Verse 26 is the perspective, “And thence [Paul and Barnabas] sailed to Antioch.” Antioch was where they had been commissioned by the church for their ministry.
There are two things we can notice here: God’s grace and their faithfulness. Paul and Barnabas went back and told this church that had sent them out about what God had done with them and how God had opened a door of faith unto the Gentiles. The bottom line is to measure your day by your faithfulness and God’s grace. You don’t have to be great, talented, or brilliant. You need to be faithful to the stewardship God has given you, and you need to recognize God’s grace, His supernatural enabling and power in our life.
You may not know what God is doing today, so trust him and realize that He may be doing more through this day than in this day. Are you having a high or a low? Either way, measure your day by your faithfulness and God’s grace.