In Acts 14, Paul and Barnabas travel first to Iconium, and then to Lystra and Derbe. At each city, they preached "boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders"(v.3) and great numbers of Jews and Gentiles believed. However, there were also some Jews that turned the crowds against them. While in Lystra, the people were so amazed by their preaching and healing, that they thought Paul and Barnabas must be gods and began to offer sacrifices to them. The apostles stopped them right away, shouting "Why are you doing this? We too are only men, like you."(v15). Later, the Jews again caught up to them and turned the people against them. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, nearly dead. It seems ironic that they earlier tried to present sacrifices to Paul as a god and then turned around and nearly stoned him to death in rebellion to his teaching of the Lord. Amazingly, Paul resumed preaching and encouraging the large number of new disciples in Lystra and Derbe.

I pray for humility and courage like Paul demonstrated in this chapter. I confess that I often allow people to compliment and praise my good works without saying "What are you doing? I too am only a man, like you". I also confess that I often put too much value in trying to win the approval of people. For Paul, even his numerous miraculous signs didn't earn him the approval of much of the crowds. But, Paul gave God the glory and needed only God's approval to remain steadfast in his courageous missionary journeys.